They sang. They carried flags. They marched through the streets to the city-center stadium for the match here, too.
But instead of short sleeves under brilliant Seattle sun, they wore coats. That was to shield their Swiss and Algerian — and Canadian, Mexican, Brazilian and, yes, American — team jerseys from Vancouver’s chilly, evening rain.
The bars and restaurants were festive. They cheered the goals. But they weren’t overflowing, the noise didn’t shake the tables, like they have this scintillating soccer summer in Seattle.
Thursday’s un-summer-like weather, the fact the host Canadian team lost its chance to play this round-of-32 match at home here in Vancouver, plus the hangover of it being the night after Canada Day dampened the festivities.
In ways Seattle’s World Cup experience will never know.
Inside this perfect sight-line stadium, the constant roars didn’t bounce off cantilevered roofs or go into the blue, Pacific Northwest sky. The noise stayed inside BC Place Vancouver, because of the dome’s closed, fabric roof. It’s a smaller, Canadian Football League stadium here. Its capacity is 52,497, about 15,000 fewer seats than Lumen Fiel — er, “Seattle Stadium” has as its capacity for this World Cup.
It got loud in the sold-out dome. Especially the Algerians. They sounded like they outnumbered Swiss fans.
Yet they weren’t as loud as the soccer folks have been in Seattle for five, wild World Cup matches. Even with the roof, Vancouver wasn’t as loud as Seattle was Wednesday for Belgium’s win over Senegal.
Even with a smaller arena, with the second deck the upper one closer to the field, they weren’t nearly as raucous here as they were in Seattle for the United States’ group-stage win over Australia July 19.
Swiss fans inside BC Place celebrating as their team finishes a 2-0 win over Algeria here in Vancouver in the World Cup round of 32.
Switzerland to the round of 16 vs tomorrow’s Colombia-Ghana winner.@thenewstribune@933KJRpic.twitter.com/rgNpH0tKLZ
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) July 3, 2026
And they weren’t nearly as loud Thursday night in British Columbia as they are going to be at Lumen Field Monday. That’s when the U.S. returns for the biggest global sporting event Seattle’s ever had, the Americans’ round-of-16 match against Belgium.
As the U.S. team landed at Boeing Field in Seattle Thursday to begin preparing for their spectacle and showdown Monday, Switzerland beat Algeria 2-0 in their World Cup round-of-32 match 140 miles — and a four-hour, pre-holiday driving slog — north in British Columbia.
Breel Embolo took a pass off the end line after a stirring run down the left side by Johan Manzambi and redirected the ball past Algerian goalkeeper Luca Zidane for a 1-0 Swiss lead just 10 minutes in.
Then just after halftime, Switzerland’s Dan Ndoye intercepted a poor clearance by Algeria’s Rafik Belghali up the middle of the penalty area and put it in the back of the net.
That’s how Switzerland advanced to the round of 16 Tuesday back here inside BC Place.
The Swiss, 15th in FIFA’s world rankings one spot ahead of the U.S., will next face the winner of Friday’s match between Colombia and Ghana in Kansas City.
Seattle, meanwhile, will brace for what’s to come post-July 4th weekend. It’s going to be an epic sports, cultural and patriotic event. If the sports world got wowed by the environment for first U.S. match in Seattle, wait until the globe sees what it’s going to be like with the Americans trying to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals Monday for only the second time in the modern era, and first time since a 1-0 loss there to Germany in 2002.
Monday won’t, however, have the U.S. president or vice president in Seattle. A King County spokesman told KING-5 television the local governments learned Wednesday night President Donald Trump or Vice President JD Vance will not attend the U.S.-Belgium match Monday in Seattle, as had been rumored.
Or as they say up here in Canada, “rumoured.”
