Arlington fans, officials see CONCACAF Gold Cup as preparation for hosting FIFA

CONCACAF Gold Cup gets Texas excited for FIFA World Cup

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is an international sporting event, and the city of Arlington sees this as another opportunity to prepare for the FIFA World Cup next year. The tournament is also getting fans even more excited for the world cup, and they hope they get to watch their teams here next year.

ARLINGTON, Texas - The CONCACAF Gold Cup is an international sporting event, and the City of Arlington sees it as another opportunity to prepare for the FIFA World Cup next year. 

The tournament is getting fans even more excited about the World Cup, and they hope they get to watch their teams at AT&T Stadium next year. 

CONCACAF Gold Cup Begins

On Wednesday night, soccer fans flocked to AT&T stadium for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. 

The tournament features international soccer teams from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. 

Ruben Lopez and his family drove five hours from Amarillo to watch the matches. They also brought with them some aspiring soccer players. Lopez said the tournament is getting his family excited for the World Cup.

The tournament is good practice for the teams and the City of Arlington ahead of the FIFA World Cup next year. 

Matt Wilson is the executive director of the Arlington Sports Commission. He says every time the city gets a chance to host international events like this is a chance to learn and improve, and they see the Gold Cup as a dress rehearsal of sorts for next year.

What they're saying:

Lopez says no matter who wins, his family is excited to watch the tournament play out.

"Excited all the way around! For Mexico and team USA, we don’t care, we just want one of them to win," Lopez said.

He says his children are big fans of the sport as well.

"The hope is they get pumped up and they keep growing, loving the sport and playing the sport."  

Wilson is glad the city is getting the chance to prepare for next year's event.

"What we’re talking about is a global audience, and we’re building momentum as we go into next year. We're a year away from the FIFA World Cup, so all of these events just build the excitement for everybody here in North Texas." 

Randall Bonilla is one of those North Texas fans.

"I’ve been following it since I was a kid, so I mean it’s exciting," Bonilla said. "It's just something that you have inside, and it’s hard to explain. When you see a game, it doesn’t matter who is playing, you just enjoy the game."

Bonilla's here to cheer on Costa Rica, but win or lose, he's just happy to experience soccer in North Texas. 

"Besides being a soccer fan, I'm a cowboys fan too, so, being here, yeah, it’s going to be great and having the World Cup here, having some of the games here, it is exciting."  

What's next:

Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic played first Wednesday night. Costa Rica won 2-1. Mexico and Suriname were next up.

The U.S. men's national team will play Haiti on Sunday.