After months of hype, infighting, sticker shock and genuine cuteness, it’s time to play soccer (excuse us, football). Scotland and Haiti will face off in a Group C match at “Boston Stadium,” aka Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
We’ll continue to update this post until the match is over. Feel free to check back in throughout the evening.
12:00 a.m.: Don’t gotta go home …
The match is over but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time for bed. The folks emptying out of the stadium in Foxborough are allowed to tailgate, which sounds like a totally normal thing except — as with so much around this tournament — FIFA made it weird. Local organizers in Boston and several other cities initially said the onsite cookouts were banned. But FIFA swore it said no such thing. Either way, pass the wings.
For everyone else, Massachusetts lawmakers betrayed the state’s Puritan roots this one time, and temporarily extended “last call” at bars and restaurants an hour, to 3 a.m. But they didn’t completely abandon Bay State tradition: They made the extended booze time a local option, so check with your local bartender if they are working late.
If you’re a home body, you can relive the action through photos. We’ve collected some of our favorite shots from WBUR’s Jesse Costa and Robin Lubbock, along with a few game photos from the Associated Press. You can check them out here.
11:23 p.m.: It’s peak parking in Foxborough
With the game over, Foxborough is about to experience something very familiar: The long, soul-crushing gridlock of thousands of drivers fleeing the area.
If you were wondering about the price for parking outside the stadium, it’s exactly what you thought it would be.
WBUR’s Meghan Kelly walked the final mile to the stadium earlier this evening, thanks to a cavalcade of travel woes too long to include in tonight’s live blog. The prices of the off-site lots rose steadily as she went.
About a mile out, a local business offered drivers a spot for $140, promising easy access out of the area post-game, using the distance from Gillette Stadium as a selling point.
Parking a mile away from Gillette stadium cost $140 ahead of the stadium’s first World Cup match (Meghan Kelly/WBUR)
Further along the road, the price jumped to $150 “cash,” or $155 if you wanted to use Venmo.
The closer you got to Gillette Stadium ahead of Saturday’s World Cup match, the higher the price for parking went. (Meghan Kelly/WBUR)
Closest to the stadium, parking would run you an astronomical $200.
Off-site parking next to Gillette Stadium topped $200 ahead of the World Cup match between Haiti and Scotland. (Meghan Kelly/WBUR)
While those parking prices feel more like car payments, they aren’t that far off from the cost of a spot on site at the stadium: Spots for the upcoming Iraq-Norway match will run you $175.
11:03 p.m.: Scotland wins!
And just like that, the first of seven World Cup matches in Boston is over, with Scotland besting Haiti 1-0.
The result leaves Scotland atop Group C after the first set of matches. The win means three points, putting them two ahead of Brazil and Morocco, who each earned a point for their tie earlier in the evening.
Haiti dominated late in the second half, really taking the fight to a Scotland team clinging to its lead. As French soccer legend and Fox commentator Thierry Henry said after the game, “Haiti was a joy to watch.”
Both teams face tough fights in their next two matches, with both Brazil and Morocco in FIFA’s top eight-ranked teams in the world.
Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn reacts following the World Cup Group C soccer match between Haiti and Scotland in Foxborough. (Martin Meissner/AP)
10:49 p.m.: What a chance by Pierrot!
Melrose’s Frantzdy Pierrot just struck a wicked header that blazed just wide of the net. Haiti was inches from tying the game.
Rob Lane, our reporter at the Boston fan festival just filed a single-line update about the mood at the watch party:
“The Scots are TENSE.”
Scotland’s Lewis Ferguson (19) and Haiti’s Frantzdy Pierrot (20) go up for a header during the World Cup Group C soccer match between Haiti and Scotland in Foxborough. (Charlie Krupa/AP)
10:42 p.m.: Haiti’s pouring it on
With about 10 minutes left in the match (plus stoppage time), Scotland still leads but Haiti’s pounding on the door. The team’s are dead even on possession of the ball, but Haiti’s taken more shots during the match: 12 to Scotland’s nine.
10:31 p.m.: Both teams are battling
It’s time for a hydration break — FIFA has mandated these three-minute stops of play for every half of every match because North America gets stupid hot during the summer.
This break comes during a nervy second half of play, with both teams taking real chances to score.
Scotland players take a hydration break during the World Cup Group C soccer match between Haiti and Scotland in Foxborough. (Mark Stockwell/AP)
9:56 p.m.: And that’s the half
Scotland goes into the break with a one goal lead. But they haven’t dominated the match; Haiti’s had 45% of the possession and one massive opportunity to score that took some defensive heroics to foil by the Scots.
And what about the Mass. guy? Frantzdy Pierrot hasn’t touched the ball a ton, but he’s made it count when he has, with a hand in Haiti’s missed scoring chance and four out of four completed passes, according to Fotmob stats.
Haiti’s Frantzdy Pierrot (20) makes an attempt to score against Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn (1) during the World Cup Group C soccer match between Haiti and Scotland in Foxborough. (Mark Stockwell/AP)
9:49 p.m.: Meanwhile, in Boston
As the action unfolds in Foxborough’s “Boston Stadium,” the official fan festival is happening in Boston Boston. Scottish fans overwhelmingly outnumber Haiti’s backers, according to WBUR’s Rob Lane, but the atmosphere is laid back.
Fans settle in for the Hatiti-Scotland match at the Boston fan festival on City Hall Plaza (Rob Lane/WBUR)
Or it was, until Scotland scored its goal and the crowd erupted into pandemonium, throwing cans in the air and serenading goal scorer John McGinn with a variation of “Acky Breaky Heart.” (It’s a soccer thing. Really.)
9:31 p.m.: GOAL!
Scotland’s John McGinn just scored the nation’s first World Cup goal in 28 years. His 29th-minute goal breaks the ice on what has so far been a back-and-forth match.
9:17 p.m.: More on South Station’s earlier crowds
As packed at the sidewalks were outside of South Station today, things seemed to go smoothly. Here’s more on the amiable mob from WBUR’s Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez:
MBTA Senior advisor Rod Brooks watched the crowd lining up on Summer Street. He said a lot of the boarding groups were at the station at the same time, “but it’s controlled.”
The line was steadily moving.
“The trains are getting loaded, we’re in good shape,” he said about halfway through the queuing process.
Outside the station, a Scottish fan, Douglas Macleod lamented the long boarding line after standing in it for about an hour.
“I’ve been in queues, but this is the longest queue I’ve ever been in in my entire life, like, ever” he said. “Like, it’s the longest queue I’ve ever seen for anywhere, ever.”
But 14-year-old Yahia Chakar, of Charlestown, shone bright with elation as he took in the action at South Station leading to his first ever in-person soccer match. Clad in a Morocco jersey, he said his father Mustapha Chakar, surprised him and his sister with the tickets the night before.
“ I’m one of, like, 10 of my family members who live in the U.S., so being able to have the opportunity of going to a World Cup match, for the first time and being one of the only people in my family eligible to do this, it feels, like, honorable,” Yahia said.
The Chakars planned to take in some of the Morocco-Brazil match before going to the stadium, “ I wish Morocco’s going to win 3-0,” the elder Chakar said, hours before the two teams fought to a draw. “And after that, we’re going to support Haiti.”
9:03 p.m.: Here we go!
Congratulations, you’ve survived the hype and made it to kickoff. Scotland vs. Haiti is officially underway in Foxborough.
This match has been a long time coming for both countries. Scotland hasn’t been to the World Cup in 28 years. According to the Fox broadcast, eight of the team’s players weren’t born in 1998, when Scotland was last featured in the tournament. Phew.
But that’s like yesterday compared to Haiti, which hasn’t made it to the World cup in 52 years. As WBUR’s Nik DeCosta-Klipa wrote in our teams preview, the accomplishment is all the more remarkable because they never played a match in their home nation during the qualifying games.
Keep an eye out for Melrose’s Frantzdy Pierrot, who’ll lead Haiti’s attack as a starting forward tonight. For the Scots, don’t sleep on Scott McTominay, their gifted midfielder who scored a gobsmacking goal against Denmark to help the team make the World Cup.
Flags are placed ahead of the World Cup Group C soccer match between Haiti and Scotland in Foxborough. (Mark Stockwell/AP)
8: 33 p.m.: Massachusetts loves to pre-game
We’re 27 minutes away from kickoff in Foxborough, but folks in Boston and around the state are already out and celebrating. The official Boston Fan Festival opened its gates at 2 p.m. Across the state, cities and towns have set up watch parties with food, drinks, music and monster screens playing the match. Here’s a handy map to help you spot some fun close to home:
And if you want to root your team on in a more traditional soccer setting, there are plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants tuning in to the World Cup. Here’s a run-down of some of the area’s prominent soccer bars.
8:08 p.m.: Welcome to the World Cup group stage (What’s a group stage?)
Tonight’s match between Scotland and Haiti is part of the World Cup’s group stage. Unlike American playoff tournaments, like March Madness, the World Cup has a first round where a team can lose but still continue competing.
There are 48 national teams playing in the World Cup. A few months ago, FIFA sorted these clubs into four levels of relative talent, called pots. Then they held a big lottery, where a team from each pot was added to one of 12 groups. The idea is each group has an elite team, a really good team, a pretty good team, and a “Look ma, I’m in the World Cup!” team.
Scotland (pot 3) and Haiti (pot 4) are in Group C, along with Brazil (pot 1) and Morocco (pot 2). They’ll all play each other in the group round, and the two best teams move on to the knockout rounds. The eight best third-place teams in the group stage also move on.
Brazil and Morocco’s match in New Jersey just ended in a 1-1 tie, so if either Scotland or Haiti can pull off a win tonight, they’ll lead the group.
If you’re wondering, the U.S. men are a “pot 1” team. Not because they’re an elite club, alas; they get that honor because they’re a host nation, along with Canada and Mexico. That may explain how a team as good as Morocco ended up in pot 2.
Here are all the groups in the World Cup:
7:45 p.m.: Here comes the Tartan Army
There are lots of World Cup fandoms here in Massachusetts, including thousands of Haitians, Brazilians and Moroccans watching Group C matches tonight. But the biggest surprise may be the arrival of the Tartan Army — traveling Scots here to watch their beloved Scotland play its first World Cup match since 1998. To say they’re excited about their return to football’s biggest stage would be an understatement.
The plaid partisans have descended on the city, bringing a party vibe wherever they go. Like Boston Common, where they greeted a fellow traveler who just walked 3,500 miles from Los Angeles to Boston to raise money for a mental health charity. (If you’re interested in the math, that’s three-and-a-half times the 500 miles and 500 more The Proclaimers said they’d walk to be your man. Talk about commitment.)
Scotland fans walk through downtown Boston, as the 2026 Men’s World Cup gets underway. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
And down in Providence, WBUR’s Eve Zuckoff was there as more Scots packed some school buses they chartered to get to tonight’s match. Their departure was a bit delayed as late stragglers and cases of Narragansett beer were piled into the convoy. Bus driver Linda Semper told Zuckoff she’s “only seen this many Scots on Outlander.”
7:25 p.m.: Strikers? Kits? Say what?
If you’re new to soccer, the vocabulary can feel a little daunting. You’ll get it eventually, but it helps to have a crib sheet to explain things as you go. Call it a security blanket.
We wrote a very long, very detailed and (hopefully) very fun glossary to help you with the Britishisms that slip into even the American broadcasts. You can read that here.
7:01 p.m.: Hey, there’s a Massachusetts guy playing tonight!
If you’re the kind of person who needs a rooting interest to watch a game, you may be interested in cheering for the guy from Massachusetts.
Melrose’s Frantzdy Pierrot has played 52 games for Haiti since 2019, scoring 34 goals along the way. The 31-year-old striker was feted by Gov. Maura Healey ahead of this year’s tournament.
You can read more about Pierrot here.
He’s not the only Bay Stater playing in the World Cup. The other is from the other side of the Middlesex Fells: Miles Robinson, of Arlington, is a defender for the U.S. team.
If you’re curious about the rest of the U.S. men’s national team players, learn more here.
Haitian soccer star Frantzdy Peirrot speaks after Governor Maura healey proclaims May 26th Frantzdy Peirrot Day. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
6:44 p.m.: South Station was standing room only this afternoon with World Cup travelers
After all the sturm und drang over the MBTA’s World Cup rail plans, and the $80 tickets, and the fight over street closures, and and and, we finally got to see whether people would bother with catching a ride.
Boy howdy, did they. The first train from South Station to Foxborough was sold out, ferrying thousands people to the stadium, according to T officials at the scene. The queue of travelers stretched from the platform, through the station and out into the street, with WBUR’s Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez describing it like the lines at Disney World.
The line of fans boarding trains to Foxborough for the World Cup stretched from South Station, down Congress Street to Dorchester Avenue. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
6 p.m.: Tonight’s the night the World Cup comes to Boston
Kickoff is scheduled for 9 p.m., but WBUR has been busy all day, checking in on travelers grabbing that $80 train to Foxborough, riding the school bus with the Tartan Army, taking in the crowd at the official Fan Festival on Boston’s City Hall Plaza and, later tonight, chilling with a Haitian family as they watch the match in their Foxborough living room. We’ll be updating here to keep you up to speed as the evening progresses.
If you’re staying home, you can catch the match in English on Fox or on the Fox One app. Tune in to Telemundo or log in to Peacock to watch the match in Spanish.
You can also head down to your local sports bar or community watch party to take in the vibe. Even if you’re a person who dismisses “sportsball,” you’re going to feel the giddiness from the fans. It’s infectious. Let yourself enjoy it!
