The beer showers started less than seven minutes after kickoff.
The several thousand spectators who packed Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach last Friday collectively erupted after watching the U.S. men’s national team notch its opening goal of the 2026 World Cup.
Some flexed the American flags that draped over their backs. Others waved red, white and blue scarves. The overarching feeling amongst the crowd? Elation.
The community-uniting event was just a concept 12 months ago. But over the past year, MLS Club LA Galaxy worked to organize its Soccer Celebration across the greater Los Angeles area. And the estimated 4,500-person turnout in downtown Long Beach for America’s 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday validated a year’s worth of planning.
“We like to say ‘soccer is better together,’ and there is no better way to watch the first U.S. game of the 2026 World Cup than with your 4,000 closest friends and family,” said Kara Korber, LA Galaxy’s Senior Director of Business Development and one of the event’s primary organizers. “To see it all come together was really rewarding.”
Korber said the Long Beach portion of LA Galaxy’s Soccer Celebration originated like most modern ideas: on a Zoom call.
“When we realized there was some real potential there, we decided to get together for a walk-through,” Korber said. “So we met with the city. We walked up … and down Pine to really get a sense of the space.”
It was a visualization exercise.
Korber and her colleagues loosely mapped out areas for the large screen, a mass of fans and brand activations. They also wanted to work with local businesses, which made that portion of Pine Avenue — a block lined with restaurants and bars — even more convenient.
Crafting a schedule remained challenging.
The Long Beach portion of the Soccer Celebration covers the entire World Cup group stage, making it a continuous two-and-a-half-week event.
“There’s a lot of logistics that go into an event that is that long, especially when street closures are involved,” Korber said. “So we’re in really close communication [with the city].”
The U.S. has naturally been the most popular draw in the Long Beach watch zone so far. But organizers felt it was important to broadcast as many group stage matches as they could — 47 of the 72 to be exact — on Pine Avenue.
“This is the largest World Cup that we’ve ever had, so we wanted to make sure that we were a home base for every community,” said Jaime Alvarez, LA Galaxy’s Sr. Vice President of Communications and Community Impact.
There’s no entry fee for any of the matches either, reaffirming the Galaxy’s commitment to accessibility.
The watch displays matches on a 23-foot screen while also offering foosball and cornhole. An additional fan zone on the adjacent W Broadway is only active on select days, but offers World Cup merchandise, soccer skill games and giveaways.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that there’s literally hundreds of people working on this,” Korber said.
That collective effort over the past year has created a unified viewing experience in the heart of downtown Long Beach. Even though several matches will be played at nearby SoFi Stadium, the city’s World Cup haven will remain on Pine Avenue and W Broadway through June 27.
“Long Beach is our home,” Alvarez said. “We have a long history of working closely with the city and of working closely with families here in Long Beach … so to come here, celebrate and have a footprint here was really important to us.”
