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Philly’s third FIFA World Cup game set up another David versus Goliath matchup, like Brazil against Haiti was on Friday. France has won the World Cup twice, in 1998 and 2018, and entered the tournament as one of the favorites. Iraq had only made one World Cup before this year’s, back in 1986.
Like Brazil versus Haiti, the upset wasn’t on the cards. France won 3-0 in front of a sellout crowd during a delay-causing summer downpour to book a place in the knockout rounds. Captain and all-time leading goalscorer Kylian Mbappé made his 100th appearance for Les Bleus and scored twice.
Saif Algburi, the owner of Crispy Wonders Baghdad Restaurant in Northeast Philadelphia, laid out his plan Monday.
He planned to go to Philly’s only Iraqi restaurant early to make sure everything was running properly and his employees didn’t need anything. He then will make sure all the TV’s are set to play Iraq’s FIFA World Cup 2026 game against France, then he and his family will head down to Philadelphia Stadium for the game.
All the while he was hoping the Lions of Mesopotamia could pull off one of the biggest upsets in the tournament’s history.
The day before the game, the city was treated to its third gathering of soccer fans in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This time it was fans of both teams celebrating together.
After the site-sharing and global camaraderie though, some Iraq fans tried to put France under the Rocky Statue curse by throwing a France jersey around the Rocky statue’s neck.
For an Iraq team still searching for its first-ever World Cup win, or draw, a curse could have helped the uphill battle of upsetting France.
“I asked if we could play three goalkeepers, but they said no,” Iraq coach Graham Arnold joked in Sunday’s press conference.
On the other hand, if French coach Didier Deschamps was allowed to play every French player he thought deserved to start, he would have 20 players on the field instead of 11. He did not divulge which six players in his squad would remain on the bench though.
Up in Northeast Philly, Crispy Wonders was having one of its busiest weekends ever. Algburi opened the restaurant two years ago to provide authentic home food for the Iraqi community in the area. He said that this week, the restaurant has been visited by Iraqi soccer fans from all over the continent. Some told him they were skipping work for this game.
Jamal Aldin travelled in from Detroit with his brother who lives in Canada and a group from other parts of Michigan. He said the group searched for a place to eat on Google and Philly’s only Iraqi restaurant came up.
He said that the Iraq national team’s World Cup campaign was helping to unify all Iraqis, whatever their politics, religious sects or ethnic backgrounds.
“Honestly when Iraq played in the qualification, the Iraqi people were united and they are united in every match they are playing now,” he said.
Iraq were the very last team to qualify for the World Cup, competing in March’s World Cup 2026 Playoff Tournament in Guadalupe, Mexico. The team took on Bolivia on March 31 and won 2-1. Many players on the team had to make a long three-day journey from Baghdad to Mexico, including an overland crossing into Jordan, to get to that game, due to the Iran war.
Iraqi citizens are currently under the Trump administration’s travel restrictions, and even the team’s captain and star striker, Aymen Hussein was questioned for seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport before being allowed into the U.S. The team’s photographer was denied entry.
Algburi said his tickets for the game cost around $900 each. Having waited 40 years to see Iraq back in the World Cup and what it meant for his community, it was worth it.
Aldin also managed to get tickets for the game, at great expense.
“Everything is priceless at this time. We paid a lot, but Iraq deserves more than this,” he said
France victorious in weather-delayed game
Inclement weather forced FIFA’s fan festival site at East Fairmount Park’s Lemon Hill to close down for the day and delayed the gate opening at Philadelphia Stadium.
The crowd in Philly’s first game was a sea of Ecuador yellow with pockets of Ivory Coast orange. The second was predominantly wearing Brazil’s canary yellow with a smattering in Haiti’s blue and red. The 68,324 in attendance looked much more balanced between Iraq’s white and green and France’s blue and white.
The Iraq fans made themselves heard throughout the game at their supporter’s end of the stands.
France’s attack piled on the pressure on Iraq’s defense from the starting whistle. Mbappé opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a shot from outside the box.
Iraq’s bad start got worse when Aymen Hussein had to be subbed off after 26 minutes after picking up an injury.
Mbappé nearly doubled France’s lead before halftime after pirouetting into the box, but last-ditch tackles by Iraq defenders Hussein Ali and Akam Hashim thwarted his shot.
The halftime whistle was directly followed by the stadium announcer instructing fans to seek shelter in the stadium’s concourse due to approaching thunderstorms.
After over two hours, play resumed with the rain still coming but the conditions deemed safe enough to play.
Iraq came out of the break looking more attacking, but then gifted Mbappé his second goal when Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil miscontrolled Zaid Tahseen’s pass and Ousmane Dembélé teed up his captain with a tap in.
It was one-way traffic from there, and Dembélé was next to score in the 66th minute, notching his first goal in his third World Cup.
Both teams play their final games on Friday. Iraq lost its opener World Cup game against Norway 4-1, though Aymen Hussein’s goal did double the nation’s scoring total at the tournament. France defeated tournament dark horses Senegal 3-1.
Philly’s next game sees the return of Ivory Coast, which defeated Ecuador in its first Philly game and has its basecamp at Subaru Park in Chester. Les Elephants will be playing Curaçao, the smallest nation to ever compete in the tournament, which held Ecuador to an historic 0-0 draw in its last game. Both teams have already lost to the fourth team in the group, four-time World Cup champions Germany.
