Ramazan Kilic says he’ll get goosebumps when Turkey’s national anthem rings through BC Place Stadium because the World Cup highlight falls on Vancouver today.
After years of buildup, Turkey will play Australia within the first-ever World Cup game played in Vancouver and Kilic says tonight’s game can be a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to observe the Turkish national team.
Kilic says he watched Turkey play Canada in a friendly match in Toronto in June 1995, but tonight’s game can be special due to World Cup.
He says he’ll share this occasion along with his wife, his two children, his brother, his sister and his brother-in-law, together with 1000’s of other Turkish fans, who’ve come to Vancouver from across Canada and around the globe.
Kilic says his family has been preparing for tonight’s game for the reason that morning, listening to music and dancing, before heading off to the sport.
The soccer fan says he and his family can be travelling from Richmond, B.C., by SkyTrain to Vancouver, where they can be meeting up with an expected 2,000 fans in an area park before heading to the sport.
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Kilic says he has heard that some 35,000 Turkish fans could show up for the sport, they usually, like he, expect Turkey to beat the Socceroos, because the Australian team is understood, with Kilic tipping on a 4-1.
Tonight’s game happens against the backdrop of dropping ticket prices, and Kilic says he got too excited when he bought his 4 tickets for a complete of $5,000.
But he doesn’t appear to have any regrets.
“I said, ‘You recognize what? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We’ll just go to game.’ My kids love soccer. So, I said, ‘why not?’ So, we just bought it. Now, the identical tickets, they’re like $500, $600 each.”
Kilic’s anticipation won’t be the one thing being tested today.
Town’s preparations for what’s billed because the world’s biggest sporting event will finally be put to the test within the match that has a 9 p.m. kickoff.
Doors open three hours before then, with fans being directed to get to the stadium via walking routes from Major Street Science World SkyTrain Station and downtown along Keefer Street.
There are major road closures across the stadium, and organizers are telling fans to depart their cars at home and take public transit.
Town has seen an influx of Australian fans in green and gold, while Turkey’s enthusiastic supporters greeted their team’s arrival on Thursday by setting off red smoke canisters outside the players’ hotel.
Fans without tickets can head to the official FIFA Fan Festival at Hastings Park in East Vancouver, or the newly pedestrianized Granville Street fan zone within the downtown core.
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