{"id":33243,"date":"2026-07-04T21:10:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/paraguay-and-france-fans-come-together-for-phillys-final-world-cup-game\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T21:10:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:10:23","slug":"paraguay-and-france-fans-come-together-for-phillys-final-world-cup-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/paraguay-and-france-fans-come-together-for-phillys-final-world-cup-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Paraguay and France fans come together for Philly\u2019s final World Cup game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story originally appeared on WHYY\u2019s Billy Penn<\/a>.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

As France and Paraguay prepared to kick off Philly\u2019s\u00a0final World Cup game<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday afternoon, a packed house of Paraguayan-Americans partied at Chickie\u2019s & Pete\u2019s in South Philly.\n<\/p>\n

Dressed in their team\u2019s red-striped jerseys, they waved Paraguayan flags, danced between tables in the dress of native Paraguayan Guarani people, and prayed for another underdog win following their squad\u2019s improbable victory over Germany on Monday.\u00a0But, it was not to be<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The raucous scene reflected \u201ca lot of reinstated belief\u201d in their national team, which hadn\u2019t been in a World Cup since 2010, said Alex Benitez, a native of Paraguay who lives in Brooklyn and came down Saturday for the game.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of the passion that you really feel when you just get a lot of Paraguayans in a room,\u201d said Benitez, who was wearing a Paraguayan flag as a cape. \u201cWe\u2019re also a very small country, like 7 million people. So it doesn\u2019t take much for us to get rowdy when you encounter something like this.\u201d
\nParaguay fans gathered at Chickie\u2019s and Pete\u2019s in Philadelphia during the city\u2019s final FIFA World Cup game, July 4, 2026. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

Locals and visitors who didn\u2019t have tickets to attend the match in person gathered in restaurants, bars and living rooms to hang out together as they cheered on their teams, sheltering in air conditioning or braving outdoor temperatures that hovered around 99 degrees as the game began.\n<\/p>\n

Benitez said he felt \u201cgreat\u201d going into the game because the Paraguay squad performs better against good teams, but added that there was \u201ca lot of anxiety that people don\u2019t talk about\u201d in the crowded bar as well.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes off as very cheery, and \u2018oh my god, everyone\u2019s here,\u2019 but I think the dancing and the hanging out and being out in the community is a way to kind of just ease that anxiety as well, especially ahead of a big match like France, who\u2019s like one of the best teams in the world today,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

Mirta Villalba, a Paraguay native who lives in Queens, acknowledged that Saturday\u2019s contest was \u201ca very tough match,\u201d but said the Paraguayan players could have an advantage because they\u2019re used to the heat.
\nParaguay fan Mirta Villalba (right) and her friends watched the FIFA World Cup game against France at Chickie\u2019s and Pete\u2019s in Philadelphia on July 4, 2026. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hot outside, but in Paraguay, it\u2019s that hot in summer, autumn, and winter,\u201d she said in Spanish. \u201cWe don\u2019t really get cold weather \u2014 very little. I think that works in Paraguay\u2019s favor, the scorching heat.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Villalba came down with a group of friends specifically to visit Chickie\u2019s & Pete\u2019s, which she said had been rented out by Paraguay\u2019s biggest newspaper and country\u2019s consulate as the official watch party location. It was her first time in Philadelphia, and she thought the city was \u201cbeautiful,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

As TV screens filled with singer Idina Menzel belting out the American national anthem ahead of the kickoff, a quieter scene played out a couple miles away at Bok Bar, where a screen showing the game had been set up at one end of the rooftop terrace.
\nSoccer fans gathered at the Bok Bar in South Philadelphia to watch France versus Paraguay play in the FIFA World Cup on July 4, 2026. (Kimberly Paynter?WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

Bok Bar hosted the official France team watch party for its\u00a0game versus Iraq last month<\/a>\u00a0and was mobbed with fans. In the first few minutes of Saturday\u2019s game about 25 people had settled in chairs under an awning to watch, including a few fans in crisp blue and white polos reading \u201cLes Bleus,\u201d the French team\u2019s nickname.\n<\/p>\n

One of them, Philly resident Gabrielle Swain, said she likes the team but had come along mostly to support her friend Ashley Boyle, \u201ca huge soccer fan.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI just like seeing them score, and then, you know, I\u2019ll cheer along,\u201d she said. \u201cBut there\u2019s some excitement today, so I just want be a part of that.\u201d
\nBest friends Gabrielle Swain (left) and Ashley Boyle (right) watched their favorite team, France, play Paraguay at the Bok Bar in South Philadelphia on July 4, 2026. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

She said they went to the\u00a0FIFA Fan Fest at Lemon Hill\u00a0to watch one of the previous games and had a good time. \u201cPhilly\u2019s been really showing out, so I\u2019ve been so happy to live here and experience all of the energy,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

Boyle said she was delighted to hear about the excitement of the Paraguay fans \u2014 \u201cThat\u2019s so cute. That\u2019s why I love the World Cup. It\u2019s just fun watching all this, all the fans out there\u201d \u2014 but she herself was \u201cTeam France all the way.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re my team to win it this year. So I personally don\u2019t think [Paraguay will win], but I think they\u2019ll put up a good fight,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

Danielle Braunton said she lives just a couple blocks from Bok, so she decided to get out of the house and brave the heat.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew they were having a party, so we wanted to be with other people, and it\u2019s kind of hot, and we thought we\u2019d get a breeze up here,\u201d she said.
\nAdam and Danielle Braunton are soccer fans who\u2019ve watched a bunch of FIFA World Cup games around the city, including France versus Paraguay at Bok Bar in South Philadelphia on July 4, 2026. (Kimberly Paynter\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly for the vibes,\u201d said her husband, Adam, who is from England. \u201cI don\u2019t say we\u2019re passionate supporters of either team, really, but it\u2019s a fun thing to do.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They agreed that the World Cup has been a good experience for Philadelphia.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the BSL trains packed with supporters, but there\u2019s lots of SEPTA staff around, and they\u2019re waving people around the right places, and so they\u2019ve done a really good job,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s been a success for the city. It\u2019s sort of a nice atmosphere in this, definitely.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story originally appeared on WHYY\u2019s Billy Penn. As France and Paraguay prepared to kick off Philly\u2019s\u00a0final World Cup game\u00a0on Saturday afternoon, a packed house of Paraguayan-Americans partied at Chickie\u2019s & Pete\u2019s in South Philly. Dressed in their team\u2019s red-striped jerseys, they waved Paraguayan flags, danced between tables in the dress of native Paraguayan Guarani […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11573],"tags":[952,695,1131,485,546,20342,20039,919,21434],"class_list":["post-33243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philadelphia-breaking-news","tag-cup","tag-fans","tag-final","tag-france","tag-game","tag-paraguay","tag-phillys","tag-world","tag-world-cup-2026"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/whyy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/world-cup-paraguay-france-kpaynter-2026-07-04-1.jpg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Philadelphia Viral News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"This story originally appeared on WHYY\u2019s Billy Penn. As France and Paraguay prepared to kick off Philly\u2019s\u00a0final World Cup game\u00a0on Saturday afternoon, a packed house of Paraguayan-Americans partied at Chickie\u2019s & Pete\u2019s in South Philly. 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