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"I feel like some Americans don't really know how big soccer is, to be fair. Now they're actually getting to see what football is to the world."
That's how Tayvon Gray, New York City FC defender and Bronx native, summed up the vibe in his hometown and across the country as cases of World Cup Fever continue to sweep the land.
Earlier this week, Gray visited the NY/NJ host committee's official World Cup fan zone in Queens at the national tennis center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, stopping by NYCFC's "City Corner" to hold a meet-and-greet with fans and to speak with members of the local press, New York Soccer Journal included.
The Queens fan zone ended up becoming a popular place to be on World Cup matchdays, as we previously covered from a first visit made back on opening day on June 11.
Across the first 10 days of hosting watch parties, over 100,000 fans turned out to be a part of the World Cup by gathering in and around Louis Armstrong Stadium, according to the NY/NJ World Cup host committee. It's comfortably been the best-attended spot for watch parties, dwarfing turnout at places like Sports Ilustrated Stadium in New Jersey, at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and at the Bronx Terminal Market, though the curtain falls on the Queens fan zone when the group stage ends on June 27.
For Gray, this is all a sign of the World Cup opening the eyes of New Yorkers to how things go in the rest of the world. "They're actually seeing it in real time, how much traffic it brings. My Waze pops up, 'watch out for World Cup events.' It's pretty nice seeing the football here," Gray said, while also saying he still plans to get out to a match before the show leaves town in July.
Gray has also been watching current and former New York City FC teammates in action at this World Cup, with the United States featuring current NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese, plus Gray's former NYCFC Academy teammates Joe Scally and Gio Reyna, and then with Australia playing Aiden O'Neill in all of its matches, with Kai Trewin on the bench still awaiting a World Cup debut.
"It's always cool seeing a fellow peer going to the top. That's what we do it for. I feel like there's no bigger stage than the World Cup. I'm rooting for all of them. I was rooting for Matt Freese a little more than Kai [Trewin] the other day, but it is what it is," he told New York Soccer Journal with a laugh.
It's been a big summer for NYCFC players on the game's biggest stage, and a big summer for fan-led festivities and celebrations in New York, between the World Cup games or, more significantly locally, the New York Knicks capturing their first NBA title in 53 years.
Local professional sports success creates a vibe unlike any other in New York, and Gray wants to recapture that feeling himself by helping NYCFC win another MLS Cup. When he was asked about seeing how the Knicks win captivated the city, he said, "'Hopefully, you can be next,' that's all I've been doing in my head, for real. We've done it before, we've done it in the past. Hopefully we can do it again."
The Local Concerns
What's on the soccer agenda this week in and around NYC.
