Moncton soccer fans cheer for FIFA World Cup

Moncton soccer fans Thomas Raffy and Nick Landry believe Moncton's experience hosting the Women's World Cup in 2015 opened the door to Moncton possibly serving as a "base camp" for teams competing in the 2026 World Cup. 

Landry compares this week's countdown to the FIFA World Cup, being held this year in Russia, to the countdown to Christmas when he was a kid.

Maybe some of the players who are playing right now... maybe they'll be on the national team — you don't know.- Thomas Raffy

"All we could think about all week was counting it down, counting it down ... I took time off specifically to watch this," Landry said of the 2018 World Cup, which begins on Thursday.

"We've been working toward this for months now and it's overwhelming to think that it's finally here."

Adding to the excitement was Wednesday's announcement that Canada, the United States and Mexico will host the 2026 World Cup. 

Raffy hopes that bringing the 2026 World Cup to Canada will inspire even more young people to play.

"Maybe some of the players who are playing right now that Nick is coaching, maybe they'll be on the national team — you don't know. "

In addition to that, he points to the chance that as a past host of the Women's World Cup, Moncton could have an important role to play in the 2026 World Cup.

"There's a great opportunity for us to maybe be a base camp for teams that will take part in the tournament because Montreal, Toronto, Boston are cities that might be potentially selected and they're not that far away ... so why not offer our province as a base camp for one of the teams."

A platform for 'vagabonds'

Besides playing and coaching soccer, Landry and Raffy recently started a podcast, Soccer Talk with Tom & Nick, about their love for what many call the beautiful game.

"It hit us," Landry said. "How about we just share our thoughts and our opinions and our passion with the rest of the world — whoever wants to listen to us — and we got together with very little equipment and we decided to record one episode."

It turned out their first episode, a review of the qualifying teams, was a hit with fans from around the world.

"The next thing you know we have people who are now listening to us here in New Brunswick and Canada but we have people from the U.S., France, U.K., Saudi Arabia, India, Vietnam and Egypt — it's amazing. It's the beauty of technology."

Landry said there aren't a lot of soccer fans in Greater Moncton, so when you can connect with someone who loves the sport as much as you do it is a great feeling.  

"We just wanted a platform for those vagabonds that are just out there that do like soccer and wanted a platform to talk," he said.

"It's just that spark that lights up when you meet someone face-to-face who understands the sport, and you can just talk for hours. ... If I go on a hike in the middle of nowhere and find someone with a soccer jersey ... I will stop and I will talk with them and we will just talk and talk and talk."

A unifying sport

The super-fans hope that the 2026 World Cup coming to Canada will take soccer to the next level in New Brunswick. They said it also serves as a lesson in diplomacy.

Raffy said it is "tremendous" in light of the difficult NAFTA negotiations, to see Canada, the United States and Mexico unified.

"At the end of the day, we all share the same passion, and I think that's what the beauty is of soccer ... it's connecting everyone and for the span of one month, when it comes to the World Cup, you forget about politics, you forget about anything else and it's just focused on the game.

"And you know it's called the beautiful game, and there's a reason for that."

Landry said he is picking Spain to win this year's World Cup, while Raffy believes Brazil will emerge as the winner.