Last Wednesday afternoon, I headed to the airport for a flight across the country. I’d forgotten just how long those flights are, but even though it was roughly five and a half hours in the air we were still able to see Mt. Ranier as the sun was going down during the descent into the SeaTac airport. I met my brother and sister-in-law in the terminal as their flight was a little delayed so that our arrival times synced up.

We stayed in Fremont, a quirky neighborhood where I’d stopped for lunch when I drove through Seattle on my cross-country road trip a few years ago. We walked around before breakfast on Thursday having all woken up way too early given the time zone difference. Thursday was our tourist day. We started at the Chihuly museum looking at the glass installations and watching a glass blowing demonstration. Then we went up in the Space Needle to take in the city and Puget Sound on what was a cloudless day with great visibility. We could see the Cascades off to the east and snow-capped peaks to both the north and south. To the west was the water, and in the foreground on all sides was the city itself.

After some fish and chips, we went to MoPop. If anyone is planning to visit Seattle, they can leave that off the agenda and be satisfied with their choice. Oh well, not everything can be perfect. Then we walked down to Pike Place Market to watch them throw the fish and eat some fresh cherries. We also walked past the original Starbucks, but I don’t speak that language and so it meant little to me. Next came a brewery and dinner in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, a spot I chose specifically to enjoy a main course of black cod on my visit to the Pacific Northwest.

Friday was gameday. Kickoff was at noon and so we left around 9:30. The atmosphere built and built and built as we got closer to the stadium and more and more people were around us, all headed in the same direction. There were some Disney lines to get into the venue and the line to purchase the matchday scarf moved at a glacial pace, but we secured our physical souvenirs and headed down to our seats. I splurged on this purchase so we headed down for a while, all the way to the third row as I wanted to be close to the action. You could say that next came the calm before the storm, but it wasn’t calm as kickoff approached. Then the teams walked out, the flags were unfurled, and Australia’s anthem played first. They showed up well given the travel distance involved, but it was a road game for them. All the while the energy continued to build. During our national anthem, the atmosphere hit a crescendo. Never mind political differences between us. This was tens of thousands of people proud to be Americans about to watch an American team. Even typing about it gives me goosebumps. It finished with a flyover from some helicopters and the loudest USA chants I’ve heard, then the match began.

The US dominated, forcing in an early goal via an Australian defender and scoring a second (after a VAR review that meant we got to celebrate it twice) off a looping deflection before half time. The crowd energy barely ebbed at all during the half and exploded at the moments when we scored, so much so that my sister-in-law reported hearing the noise from inside the stadium from some distance away as she watched the game at one of the watch parties hosted in a city park on the approach to the stadium. The second half was comfortable; Australia never really threatened and the US was content to pass the ball around. During one of their late attacks, one of our central defenders shoulder barged their winger, taking him out with an audible crunch that we could hear in the stands even if the field mic may not have picked up the sound for the television broadcast. Sometimes when you watch a professional sporting event on TV, you can get illusions that you’d be able to compete on the field. Being as close as we were to the field offered a very clear reminder that those are just illusions and that the speed at which the professionals play is insane.

When the final whistle blew, neither I nor my brother was in any hurry to leave. We’d just watched a solid performance and the energy was still pulsing through both of us. It would take several hours for that energy to dissipate, so it’s a good thing that it was a noon kickoff. Otherwise, I doubt that I would have slept Friday night. The US players weren’t eager to leave either, and we stayed and cheered them for several minutes as they walked slowly around the entire stadium and then off the pitch and into the tunnel. Only then did we head towards the exit.

No matter what happens during the rest of this tournament, we were a part of something truly special.