Portland fills the square to support USA men’s soccer

PORTLAND — Jesse Pope brought his son Andre’s 10-pound World Cup replica trophy with them to Friday’s watch party at Monument Square.

Barely 12 minutes into the match, Pope was waving it in celebration while about 1,900 other fans of the United States men’s national team, and soccer in general, joined in.

“I bought this trophy for my son and we decided to bring it along,” Jesse Pope said, handing the hefty gold talisman to Andre, age 8.

Portland has become a soccer hub with the birth and growth of the Portland Hearts of Pine men’s third-division professional team and its soon-to-come women’s team. The Hearts sell out every match at Fitzpatrick Stadium and have already received 5,000 season-ticket deposits for women’s games that will begin in 2027.

There was plenty of Hearts of Pine gear on display, along with red-white-and-blue jerseys in various crests and designs among the energetic and attentive crowd. The Hearts of Pine joined with Portland Downtown to bring a large outdoor video screen to the city’s center to provide a free way to watch USA and Australia play in the teams’ second group stage game of the 2026 World Cup.

When the U.S. team wrapped up its 2-0 win after a nervy second half, punching its ticket to the Round of 32, the crowd, which had been mostly on its feet, chanted “USA” in unison.

The atmosphere impressed Eli and Casey Lukens, brothers from Weymouth, Massachusetts, who built the watch party into their plans while staying with family in Portland.

“We’re big Hearts of Pine fans, too. We went to a game last year,” said Eli Lukens, 20, who sported the original woods-and-water Hearts jersey with a stars-and-stripes flag draped over his shoulders like a cape.

In the early stages, when a defensive miscue led to an Aussie shot on goal, Casey Lukens, 17, and many other fans were anxious — his hands were set in prayer position under his chin.

By the half, with the U.S. leading 2-0 and 45 minutes away from clinching advancement, the Lukens were more relaxed and appreciative.

“I’ve never been to a watch party and the energy here is electric. It’s such a fun time,” Casey Lukens said.

Next to them were Henry Foster of Sydney, Australia, and South Portland native Morrigan Turner, who now lives in Sydney. They stood out with their bright yellow Australia shirts.

“I am full Aussie now,” Turner said.

Two hours to the south, Boston has been overtaken by Scotsmen (and women) dressed in kilts who are living their best life celebrating the World Cup while drinking Beantown dry.

Kilts were spotted among the Portland crowd, too, including one worn by new Bates College women’s soccer coach Jonny Macadam. Macadam grew up north of Glasgow and has coached soccer in the U.S. for the past 10 years, though he’s only been in Maine for two weeks. Living in Auburn, he took a bus to downtown Portland with no set destination, figuring he could find a soccer bar.

“The bus dropped me off right here and I said, ‘this will work,’” Macadam laughed. In Scotland, the “whole nation stops” for national team matches. It’s not quite the same in Portland or the United States writ large, but Macadam said he sees the soccer culture growing “100%,” and that the World Cup will accelerate the growth.

When the watch party was announced, the Hearts of Pine did not yet have a public viewing permit from FIFA, soccer’s international governing body.

Once the team had the permit in hand, Bank of America was brought on as the presenting sponsor for the event — it also supports Hearts of Pine’s community-building efforts. Bank of America is an official sponsor affiliate with the FIFA World Cup, allowing the club to use trademarked language (“FIFA World Cup 2026,” for instance) to promote the event.

The party didn’t end with the U.S. men’s victory. It was to continue until about 9 p.m., with the Hearts of Pine’s road match at Westchester SC starting at 7 p.m., and Scotland’s 6 p.m. game vs. Morroco in Foxborough, Massachusetts, filling the remaining time.

Macadam, yet to be caught up in Hearts fever, said he’d be leaving the open-air party to go find a bar so he could watch Scotland’s match in full.

That would be fine with the organizers, said Burke Cherrie, the Hearts’ executive creative director and the primary person behind the club’s branding. Cherrie attended World Cup matches in Russia in 2018 and earlier this year at New York New Jersey (Metlife) Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Before the match, Cherrie said he wanted “to see the best of Maine’s soccer culture show up. It’s a big event. It’s great to be together and celebrate this.”

Cherrie and other members of the Hearts staff were at an outdoor table at one of the restaurants along the square, enjoying the vibe, food and pleasant midday temperatures.

Hosting this type of event is mostly about buiding community, Cherrie said, but it’s also an important way for the club to support “all the local businesses. We want all these places to be overworked today.”