I feel like, perhaps more so than any World Cup I can remember, the stars of the show haven’t just been on the pitch; fans have taken a starring role in some of the best videos and images of the tournament.
Now Colombian fans are adding themselves to my personal list of tournament all-stars — along with the Tartan Army, any fan who discovered the wonders of Buc-ee’s, and that one Mexican fan who dunked his head in a cotton candy machine — with a wild display in Vancouver.
Colombia will take on Switzerland in the final match of the Round of 16 on Tuesday afternoon in Vancouver, and boy, is the Colombian fanbase well-represented.
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They turned up outside the team’s hotel, and frankly, I saw shades of Beatlemania.
I haven’t seen the streets of Vancouver that wild since just after Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
Showing up outside a team’s hotel has been a popular tactic this World Cup, but it was usually Mexico’s fans showing up outside an opponent’s hotel and making life miserable.
They did whatever they could to make sure Ecuador had trouble getting some shut-eye, and they clobbered England’s bus with foam.
But this? This is a hotel visit to get your own team fired up, and that’s a tactic I don’t think we’ve seen so far.
I understand how harassing an opponent in their hotel works, but let’s see if Colombian fans have reverse-engineered this phenomenon to get the fellas fired up before they hit the pitch.
Expect to see a lot of yellow in the stands when this one gets underway, but the Swiss have thrown neutrality to the wind, and they’ve got a pretty healthy representation in Vancouver as well.
The match gets underway Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET on Fox, with the winner moving on to face Argentina after their shocking, come-from-behind win over Egypt.
