Canada Kicks Off World Cup Dream as Fans Cheer for Both Sides at Once

The Toronto resident has been a Football fan for most of his life supporting local clubs in his home country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Witnessing the Bosnian national team defeat fan favourite Italy to qualify for this year’s World Cup was surreal he said.
But Vukelic has also called Canada home since 1999.

His strategy is to mix his Team Bosnia jersey with Team Canada shorts on Friday to watch the match at home with friends near Toronto’s BMO stadium where Canada’s opening game is set to take place.
The game’s victor does not matter much to him.
He said he is going to have fun either way.

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Many Canadians like Vukelic are used to navigating dual identities.
More than 35 percent of the population or 13 million people identify as having multiple ethnic or cultural origins according to the last census.
That multiculturalism has been on full display on the streets of host cities Toronto and Vancouver in the lead up to the World Cup where watch parties are being held in an Australian bar by Turkish fans, in the parking lot of a Balkan specialty food store, and at an Iraqi owned hookah lounge.

It has also been a selling point for Canadian football officials ahead of the North American tournament which in the lead up has been complicated by US visa policies, travel bans, and politics.
In his opening remarks at this year’s FIFA World Congress in Vancouver Canada Soccer President Peter Augruso said the country’s diversity stands out in a world that can feel divided.
He said here the world does not just visit, the world lives, works, learns, and thrives together.

For Adis and Amir Mrakovic, the Bosnian Canadian owners of Mrakovic Fine Foods in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, Canada’s inaugural match against Bosnia is a perfect storm Adis said.
His brother Amir added that they are right in the middle of it.
The pair first came to Canada in 1994 and their father started the family business soon after selling smoked meat products.
Over the coming years the store grew in size and began serving foods to the wider Balkan diaspora, becoming known for their grilled ćevapi kebabs and now a staple in the community.

The Mrakovic brothers watched Bosnia’s road to the World Cup with excitement but not too many expectations.
The national team had not qualified for the tournament since 2014 and was facing fierce competitors like Austria and Italy.
Amir said it was a shock for everybody when Bosnia defeated Italy on penalties at the fateful 31 March qualifying game.
The brothers quickly decided to host a large watch party outside their Etobicoke store complete with a 26 inch screen, a DJ, and of course grilled ćevapi.
They are expecting hundreds of attendees with some travelling from as far as Montreal.

The event is not meant to just celebrate Bosnia they said but also their Canadian identity.
Adis said they felt an obligation to bring people together and Amir added that the best case scenario for the game is a tie.

Across the city in Toronto’s Little Italy the Azzurri’s loss was met with stunning disappointment as many in the city’s Italian diaspora were looking forward to watching their ancestral home take on their adopted home.
A week after Italy’s loss dozens lined up to swap their Team Italy kits with Team Canada ones at Cafe Diplomatico, an Italian restaurant that has doubled as a gathering place for Canadian football fans for decades.
When fans arrived to the front of the line organisers told them they did not have to give up their Italian jerseys after all but could hold on to both, a revelation met with tears by some.

Excitement is also brewing across the country in Vancouver home to several match ups including Australia versus Turkey, New Zealand versus Egypt, and Switzerland versus Canada.
Ilyas Kayran, a member of Istanbul the Band, told Source that rivals cheering side by side is a normal sight in the western Canadian city, adding that this is Canadian identity.

Even Canada’s own national team is a reflection of the country’s diversity.
Captain and star player Alphonso Davies was born in a refugee camp in Ghana before his family emigrated and settled in Edmonton, Alberta where he launched his playing career.
It is the third time the country has qualified for the tournament this time as a co-host and first on home soil.
They face long odds but the squad hopes to be the first Canadian team to reach the knockout round.

Among the three host nations Canada arguably has the smallest role with only two host cities compared to Mexico’s three and the sprawling 78 matches taking place in the US.
The price tag however is still steep with the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimating the cost to taxpayers at just over one billion Canadian dollars.
The cheapest tickets to attend Canadian games cost several hundred dollars prompting criticism from fans who feel priced out in cities where the cost of living is already high.
Hundreds of tickets remain unsold in both Vancouver and Toronto.

But federal and provincial officials have embraced their hosting duties with Canada’s FIFA Sherpa calling it a once in a generation opportunity.
Fans like Vukelic admitted the Bosnia versus Canada game is too costly to attend in person but that has not stopped him from soaking up the World Cup spirit and the buzz it will bring.
He said the only thing they have to be careful about is the traffic, adding that other than that Toronto is ready for this.