The Brief

This story was originally reported by Shefali Luthra and Mel Leonor Barclay of The 19th. Meet Shefali and Mel and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Cary López Alvarado, of Hawthorne, California, was nine months pregnant when she was arrested by immigration officials alongside her husband, an immigrant from Guatemala. Alvarado was held overnight but was never sent to a detention facility: After taking her into custody, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) learned she was a U.S. citizen.

Immediately after her release, she began to experience sharp pains in her stomach, according to a claim she filed against the federal government. She gave birth a few days later.

Angie Rodriguez, an immigrant from Colombia, was taken into ICE custody following a routine check-in with immigration officials in July, and soon after found out she was pregnant. At the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center where she was held, Rodriguez could hardly bring herself to eat the small meals that the detention facility served because of how they looked and smelled, and her only other option was buying processed food like instant noodles and chips.

Rodriguez went on to miscarry while in custody, according to a lawsuit she filed against the federal government.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonano, a mother of two from El Salvador, was arrested by ICE on her way to work and detained at the Kandiyohi County Jail in Minnesota for almost a month. Her youngest child is 22 months old and still nursing; he has acid reflux and an allergy to other forms of milk. The jail was not equipped to house someone who was nursing, said Gloria Contreras Edin, her lawyer: It did not have a breast pump when Aguilar Maldonado arrived, forcing her to use her hands to massage milk out until the facility was able to buy a pump.

Antonia Aguilar Maldonano, a mother of two from El Salvador, was arrested by ICE on her way to work and detained at the Kandiyohi County Jail in Minnesota for almost a month.

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Lawyers successfully argued for her release on bond — $10,000, paid for by members of her church — while the government makes the case that she be deported.

A Biden-era policy restricts ICE from arresting or detaining immigrants who are pregnant, postpartum or nursing, except in extreme circumstances. While President Donald Trump has not formally rescinded the policy, it’s clear from lawsuits, news reports and advocates for immigrants who are detained that it’s not being followed.

Quantifying the exact number of pregnant, postpartum or nursing immigrants in custody has become impossible: This March, Congress let lapse a requirement that the administration report twice a year on how many of these immigrants are being held in immigration facilities. Since the fall of 2019, Congress had required the Department of Homeland Security to publicly report the count every six months and include “detailed justification” for every single detained immigrant who was pregnant, postpartum or nursing.

ICE did not respond to The 19th’s request for this data.

While the agency said in a statement in August that pregnant immigrants are receiving sufficient care in custody, medical professionals say the conditions in these facilities can heighten the risk for complications. Limited food can impact nutrition at a vulnerable time; access to medical appointments is spotty and often not aligned with standards of care; and pregnant, postpartum and nursing detainees also face the stress of arrest and separation from their families.

The impact of arrests and detention

In 2021, following public outcry against the first Trump administration’s immigration policies, the Biden administration directed ICE not to detain pregnant, postpartum or nursing people except in “exceptional circumstances" — they are a national security threat or pose immediate harm to themselves or other people. Those who are detained are supposed to be held in facilities suited to appropriate health care. ICE-employed medical professionals are supposed to provide weekly updates on those detainees to relevant agency directors. The ICE Health Service Corps is also supposed to keep consistent records of all pregnant, postpartum and nursing detainees, providing monthly updates to the organization’s leadership.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has not formally rescinded that policy, but administration officials argued in court that he had done so implicitly through a sweeping anti-immigration executive order that supercharged immigration enforcement. A federal judge refuted that argument, but on its website, ICE says the policy is “not reflective of current practice.”

“We're seeing more pregnant women detained again after not seeing much of that, at least not in ICE detention,” said Amanda Heffernan, a longtime nurse-midwife and professor of midwifery at Seattle University.

Rebecca Cassler, an attorney at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said her organization’s pro bono program has seen an increase in cases of detained pregnant, postpartum and nursing people. She says no one outside ICE really knows how many, but it’s enough to make her “very concerned.”

Though the federal government has not made public how many pregnant people have been detained, Democratic lawmakers have published multiple investigations documenting known cases.

One report, published this summer by the office of Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, identified 14 credible cases of pregnant women being mistreated in detention facilities. The report included a description of pregnant women sleeping on cell floors, one detainee being told to “just drink water” when needing medical support, and another miscarrying alone after days of bleeding.

ICE has disputed the report. "Pregnant women receive regular prenatal visits, mental health services, nutritional support, and accommodations aligned with community standards of care. Detention of pregnant women is rare and has elevated oversight and review. No pregnant woman has been forced to sleep on the floor," ICE said in a statement on its website.

A September 18 letter signed by 29 Democratic senators and addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directed federal officials to clarify just how many pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding people are being detained, how many have been deported and what health care is being made available to them. DHS has not acknowledged receipt, said a spokesperson for Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington who organized the letter.

“We do not know how many pregnant women are in ICE custody, whether U.S. citizen babies have been born in ICE custody, and what provisions have been made for mothers’ and children’s health, safety, and wellbeing,” the senators wrote.

The Women’s Refugee Commission, an advocacy group, is seeking records from Homeland Security pertaining to pregnant, postpartum or nursing individuals who have been detained. It recently launched its own independent tracker, encouraging health providers, lawyers and family members to submit information about pregnant people who have been detained. The commission said it’s too early to provide an accurate count from its tracker.

Zain Lakhani, a lawyer and director of migrant rights and justice for the commission, said credible reports of pregnant people being detained suggest a frequency higher than ICE’s policy would suggest.

“It would be shocking that we would be able to have this level of detained pregnant people under the guidance,” she said. “We are seeing just this shocking number of detained postpartum and pregnant women.”

Dozens of people participate in an anti-ICE rally outside of the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center on Sept. 2, 2025, in New York City.

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Workers helping integrate deported immigrants in Honduras told researchers from the Women’s Refugee Commission that nursing women who were deported had not received enough food and water to continue lactating.

“They arrive with hardly any milk — or milk that looks like water — and this affects the babies’ weight,” one worker said, according to a report published by the organization.

The impact of arrests and detention

By the time Aguilar Maldonado left the jail, her breast milk had started to dry up, Contreras Edin said. She is particularly worried about the impact of detention on her children, who were not with her and now follow her wherever she goes, including to the bathroom. Her boyfriend has been deported; she is asking a judge to let her leave voluntarily — a process that has fewer legal penalties than being deported — so she and her children can follow him.

“Her children were traumatized and her youngest was especially traumatized,” Contreras Edin said. “That bond was broken during detention and that left a permanent impression on her children.”

There is no way to ethically research how detention specifically may affect pregnancy outcomes, including whether it could increase the possibility of miscarriage, said Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Johns Hopkins University who studies the reproductive health of incarcerated women. But evidence does show that physical and psychological strain — the kind people can suffer while detained — threatens the health of a pregnancy and can mean greater risk of preterm birth.

“I’m very concerned because of the conditions we’ve already heard about that could be increasing the risks of adverse outcomes,” Sufrin said. “I’m very concerned about the outcomes for these moms as well as for the outcomes for their babies.”

ICE did not respond to a request for comment on the conditions or available accommodations for pregnant, postpartum or nursing immigrants.

Alvarado, who is seeking $1 million following her arrest, citing “the unconstitutional conduct, unlawful arrest, and the tortious conduct of Border Patrol and ICE agents,” said her daughter is healthy and growing. But she’s still dealing with the aftermath of her detention.

Footage of the arrest shows federal agents holding her hands behind her — despite guidance advising that officers generally not use physical restraints on pregnant people and that, if they do, they should keep a pregnant person’s hands in front.

Her husband has now been deported, and Alvarado has no income. She’s watching her savings dwindle and relying on her family to help care for her little girl. She said she was unsure if she’d have to pick up multiple jobs to make ends meet — and if so, who would be able to care for her infant. She remembers the terror she felt while in government custody.

“Every time I see a news or video, it does rewind in my head,” she said. “It does get me very emotional, seeing stuff like that.”

Victoria Petty, an attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area who is representing Rodriguez — the woman who suffered a miscarriage in detention — said that she first connected with her client’s husband in late August, about a month after his wife’s detention.

He had left Petty a voicemail and text explaining that his wife was pregnant in a detention center and that he was really worried about her. Days later, he called again. “He’s crying on the other line, and he's like, ‘She had a miscarriage. I don't know what to do. She's in the hospital. Help,’” Petty recalled.

Rodriguez described in court records being “unignorably hungry” inside the Bakersfield, California, detention facility and lacking prenatal health care and education for weeks after her pregnancy was confirmed. Eventually, she began to see brown discharge and was taken to an off-site hospital where, days later, health care providers confirmed she had miscarried.

Petty moved quickly to file a lawsuit claiming unconstitutional detention. Court documents show that upon release from the hospital, Rodriguez was placed in medical isolation at the ICE detention center.

“It was very scary. She was in pain. So after this really traumatic experience, and her going to the hospital and confirming that they did not see the fetus on the ultrasound — after all of that, they brought her back to the detention center and put her in medical isolation,” Petty said, adding that her client was distraught.

Petty said it’s hard to determine whether detention conditions caused or contributed to Rodriguez’ miscarriage, a very wanted first pregnancy. But, she said, it’s important to consider the stress of being suddenly detained in a van — her client is from Colombia; kidnappings and murders have left lasting scars on the Latin American nation — along with the strain and lack of food options in detention.

“These are the conditions that she was in when she was pregnant. And we cannot rule out that having been under that level of stress and fear and having that little care contributed to her pregnancy loss,” Petty said.

Heffernan, who has worked with several immigrants who were detained while pregnant, said she has seen pregnant immigrants get a few small accommodations: being placed in a lower bunk instead of the top bunk for sleep or getting extra milk with their meals and sometimes an extra sandwich or snack before bedtime.

Medical care, she said, can be “very haphazard and spotty,” with prenatal appointments often not happening on schedule.

“You do see people getting a prenatal visit here and there, but not in a timely fashion, and not according to the standard of care for people that are outside,” Heffernan said. “For instance, in a couple of people that I've been in contact with recently, one had been in detention for several months and had had no prenatal care at all. Another had had one visit.”

Pregnant immigrants are also more vulnerable to more severe cases of COVID-19, flu and other illnesses, which spread quickly in crowded places like detention centers.

There is an extensive list of best practices for detained pregnant and postpartum people, Sufrin said, including but not limited to regular access to comprehensive physical and mental health care, nutrition, the ability to exercise and adequate housing.

But from a medical standpoint, she said, “The best practices would be not to detain them.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Spain has won the FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina, bringing to a close North America's first time hosting the men's tournament in over three decades.

It is the Spanish men's team's second World Cup title, after winning their first in 2010. And for this squad, the win marked the 38th consecutive match without a loss, a run that includes their trophy in the 2024 European Championship.

They are the most dominant defensive team to win a World Cup; no champion before them had ever conceded only one goal en route to a title. And this Spain team did so with an extra game, as the new, expanded format of the tournament required its champion to play eight matches, a record.

Spain's run to the title came through a wall of top-ten opponents: first a 1-0 win over No. 5 Portugal, then a 2-1 quarterfinal win over No. 9 Belgium, then a 2-0 win in the semifinal over No. 3 France, whose attack had looked unstoppable until then. Argentina had been the world's No. 1 team; with the win, Spain has moved into the top spot.

But on Sunday, their magic ran out. Spain dominated possession all game, and its defense shut out Argentina almost completely — Argentina recorded zero shots and only two touches in Spain's box through halftime of extra time. Yet for the 90 minutes of regulation, Argentina's defense held firm, with Spain's crosses and attempts broken up by an Argentine shin or cleat or head, and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez seemingly always in position to stop any shots that got through. (Martínez finished the game with 11 saves, the most ever recorded in a men's World Cup final.)

Then, in stoppage time came the pivotal moment, when a tackle by Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernández on Spain's young star Pau Cubarsí flipped the young defender into the air and hard onto the ground. That earned Fernández his second yellow card of the game, after he received his first for dissent when he publicly disagreed with the referee.

The two yellows combined for a red card, sending Fernández off the field and forcing Argentina to play the 30 minutes of extra time with only ten men.

After recording nearly a dozen shots on target, Spain finally broke through when forward Nico Williams took a cross into the box off his head, sending it back into the empty space in front of his teammate Ferran Torres, who knocked it in for the game's only goal.

The final day of a summer of World Cup fever in North America, the last of 104 matches in total, was a hot and sunny July day in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just outside New York City. On Sunday morning, fans -- some in Messi jerseys and others draped in Spain flags -- stood in line for bagels, sang on the subway and trains to the stadium, and packed into bars and watch parties, including a crowd of about 50,000 in Central Park.

At MetLife Stadium, where the get-in price for the game had reached five figures in the days leading up to the final, a crowd of 80,663 piled into the stands to watch the final. And they were treated to a World Cup first: a halftime show that lasted around 12 minutes, featuring Shakira, Burna Boy, BTS, Justin Bieber and Madonna.

The halftime show was a nod to American audiences and halftime spectacles like the Super Bowl, but it was controversial to many soccer fans: traditionally, halftime is 15 minutes. This one -- between setup and music performances -- llasted around 25 minutes. Sports fans have complained that it slows down the natural rhythm of the game; the more severe traditionalists say it's part of the trend to Americanize the game (along with hydration breaks, which effectively create four quarters, similarly to an NFL or NBA game.)

NPR's Jasmine Garsd contributed reporting
Copyright 2026 NPR

CHICAGO — For the past five weeks, a bar in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood has become one of the country's biggest World Cup watch parties, with lines stretching around the block for the biggest games.

This is all the doing of Chicago's Major League Soccer club, the Fire. By the time the final whistle is blown on the World Cup between Argentina and Spain on Sunday, an estimated 60,000 people or more will have come through at some point in the summer for a taste of World Cup fever.

This watch party and others like it around the country are one piece of Major League Soccer's efforts to capitalize on this World Cup summer here in the U.S.

Hosting the 1994 World Cup was transformative for the sport of soccer in the United States. World Cup fever led millions of children to sign up for youth leagues. Many Americans saw games aired on TV for the first time. And it led directly to the creation of Major League Soccer, as the establishment of a top-division men's professional outdoor league was a condition of awarding the U.S. the tournament.

Since then, the league has done decades of work to grow its fanbase and stature in the world of soccer. MLS kicked off in 1996 with 10 teams; last season it reached 30 teams, the same number as Major League Baseball and the NBA. In the early years, only a few dozen games were on TV each season; today, every game is televised on Apple TV.

Now, MLS hopes that 2026 can be just as transformative as 1994. The question is: how?

FOX Sports host Rob Stone (L) and MLS Commissioner Don Garber speak at the MLS "The Next Chapter" Press Conference on July 16, 2026 in New York City. With the World Cup ending, the MLS motto is: "Thanks world. We'll take it from here"

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The Costco free sample experience

The Chicago Fire had a puzzle to solve. The FIFA World Cup was coming back to the United States — and with it would come a once-in-a-generation opportunity to use the world's largest sporting event as a potent accelerant to grow its fanbase, like harnessing a cart to a rocket ship.

But Chicago would not host any games, having sat out the bidding process at the behest of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who found FIFA's demands for expensive renovations to the city's premier stadium, Soldier Field, too much to ask of city taxpayers.

"At the end of the day, this is the biggest sporting event in the world that takes place once every four years. And it's not happening in Chicago," said Dave Baldwin, the Fire's president of business operations.

"And we had a decision to make," he said. "One was to just bury our head in the sand and just watch on TV like everyone else, or the other one was to really rally behind it, put some dollars behind it."

In the end, the Chicago Fire put just under $3 million to build up the space at the bar, called Recess. It is massive, with ample space indoors and out. In the center of the patio stands what looks like a jumbotron plucked from an arena nearby and set down on a platform, with all four sides showing that day's game. Around the space are Chicago Fire decorations, sign-up sheets, contests and team merch for sale.

"I compare converting non-soccer fans to soccer fans to my experience when I go shopping at Costco, which is I never knew that I needed 800 teriyaki meatballs, but I was walking through the line, I had a chance to sample, and I said, 'Oh my gosh, this is amazing,' and I go buy one of those giant boxes," Baldwin said. "I have met very few people that come out to a match and don't want to come back."

As the MLS season kicks back into gear, 22 clubs are running a promotion called "First Match on Us" or "Next Match on Us," with free tickets for first-time attendees.

Casual sports fans view soccer differently today than they did in the 1990s, said Brian Bilello, the president of the New England Revolution, one of the teams participating in the promotion.

Bilello played a key role in bringing World Cup matches to Gillette Stadium, the home of both the Revolution and the New England Patriots. The stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, also hosted France and Brazil in a pre-World Cup tune-up friendly in March. The Revolution saw the World Cup as an opportunity to attract fans who aren't diehard soccer followers, but rather the Boston sports fan who simply had yet to try a Revs game.

"One of the most important fans that we need to grow collectively in our league is that core sports fan that also likes soccer. In 1994, I don't think those fans were open to that. They were just like, 'Ah, soccer sucks. I don't like soccer,'" said Bilello. "That doesn't really exist as much anymore."

Lionel Messi of Inter Miami CF in action during the MLS match against the New England Revolution on April 25, 2026 in Miami, Fla.

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The Messi effect

This week, Major League Soccer rolled out an ambitious, eight-figure marketing campaign called "Thanks World, We'll Take It From Here." It includes a star-studded commercial that aired during both semifinal games and will run again during Sunday's final, which is expected to be watched by tens of millions of American viewers.

The centerpiece of the ad is Lionel Messi, the 39-year-old global superstar and captain of the Argentina national team. In 2023, Messi left a wildly successful career in Europe to join the MLS club Inter Miami, a blockbuster move that has already paid dividends for the league as a whole, with attendance and viewership up since his arrival.

"There were a lot of people that thought he was coming here to retire, and it's been the opposite," said Camilo Durana, the league's chief business officer. "Rarely do you see him getting subbed off. He wants to play the 90 minutes. He's intense. He wants to win."

Messi's performance in the World Cup has been another advertisement for MLS, Durana said. Argentina will play in Sunday's final against Spain; a win would be its second consecutive title with Messi at the helm, and he's in the running to win the Golden Boot race for most goals scored in the tournament. Messi has scored eight times and is in second place behind France's Kylian Mbappé, who has 10 goals.

"What Messi's arrival did — and what this World Cup we believe will do — is it'll encourage more players to come," Durana said.

Players are the other big audience MLS is targeting with this World Cup. Even as its quality of play has improved dramatically over the years, MLS is still dogged by a reputation for being a tier or two below Europe's domestic leagues.

MLS was directly involved in the U.S. bid for this World Cup to ensure that its teams' facilities would be front and center in the hosting plan.

Each host stadium was paired with nearby soccer facilities for visiting teams to train in the days immediately preceding each game; MLS worked to ensure those venues were, as often as possible, MLS team stadiums or training centers. (Other venue training sites included Division I college soccer facilities, municipal sporting complexes and one NWSL stadium, the Kansas City Current.)

Additionally, each World Cup team chose a base camp in North America to stay and train between games. Many chose MLS facilities. That included high-profile teams like Argentina, which stayed in Kansas City to train at a Sporting Kansas City center, and Brazil, which trained at Red Bull New York's state-of-the-art Columbia Park Training Facility in New Jersey.

Argentina's team trains ahead of its World Cup round of 32 match against Cape Verde at Sporting KC Training Center in Kansas City on June 29, 2026. MLS was directly involved in the U.S. bid for this World Cup to ensure that its teams' facilities would be front and center in the hosting plan.

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The goal was to show top-flight players from around the world what life could be like in MLS.

"Players talk," said Durana. "Often, before a player is transferred, they ask around and ask people what they think. So it's really important for us that players have great experiences as they experience the World Cup."

Many American soccer fans still prefer watching higher-tier European leagues like the English Premier League or Germany's Bundesliga. But improving the quality of players in MLS could lead to higher-quality competition — which then would draw more fans, MLS hopes.

"Major League Soccer players scored 10 goals in the group stage, and so I think that validates everything that we're doing, and it shows the quality that we have on the MLS pitch," Durana said.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The city of Long Beach plans to dip into its emergency reserves to balance its books this year as lagging tax revenue and rising expenses worsen its financial position ahead of the budget’s close on Sept. 30.

The city says it will pull $27 million from a total of four reserve accounts, exhausting its operating reserves and taking out $16.5 million from its $50.1 million emergency reserve — money set aside specifically for natural disasters and unforeseen crises.

The city last tapped that reserve during fiscal years 2020 and 2021, as officials awaited COVID-19 federal relief money while stay-at-home orders shuttered businesses and forced the city into furloughs.

While not in the midst of a natural disaster, city administrators say Long Beach’s financial picture demands the use of these funds. “I don’t think it’s a secret that we have been hit pretty hard by the economic conditions that are out there,” City Manager Tom Modica said in an interview Wednesday.

City revenues are projected to come in about $21 million below expectations this year, while expenses are set to run $20.8 million over. The city’s utility tax alone is down nearly $14.7 million as residents use less electricity and gas. Airport revenue has stayed flat even as passenger traffic at Long Beach Airport fell 11%, its second straight yearly decline. And Measure LB, a tax on power plants that voters approved in 2024, has fallen well short of projections, prompting the city auditor to request documents and open a review, Modica said.

Interest earnings have also slipped as low rates and heavy infrastructure spending leave less cash to invest, said city Financial Management Director Kevin Riper.

The city’s Health Department, meanwhile, needs an $11 million bailout from the city’s general fund after losing about $18 million in federal grant funding — its second consecutive deficit as stagnant state money fails to keep pace with rising costs in its $254 million budget.

Adding to the strain: Labor agreements with city unions have layered on $38.3 million in new structural costs over three years, insurance costs are booming, and a hiring push that cut the police vacancy rate from 26% to 13% and lowered firefighter vacancies to 3.2% means the city is now paying salaries it had budgeted to save on through unfilled positions — a $10.6 million underestimate in the citywide activities budget.

City departments began cutting costs last fall in anticipation of the gap when Modica asked them to find 3% savings through hiring delays and paused capital projects. Most hit between 2% and 7%, though Economic Development and the Health Department both ran about 11% over budget.

The Police Department cut the most of any department — nearly $11 million — by trimming overtime, deferring its next recruit academy to the next fiscal year, freezing professional-staff hiring and scaling back non-critical purchases.

The city also found $16 million in savings by leasing or financing new vehicles instead of buying them outright, though Riper cautioned the move is effectively irreversible without the city eventually having to “double collect” to rebuild cash for future fleet purchases.

Despite those steps, they weren’t enough to close the gap without dipping into reserves for the second year running.

The city now heads into its next budget cycle with its reserves at their lowest level in years and little cushion to absorb another bad year. Modica is set to unveil a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget on July 30 that he says will require “very difficult changes” for both residents and city staff, though he has offered few specifics beyond warning that service reductions are coming.

“My goal with the Proposed Budget, which will include very difficult changes for both the community and our organization, will be to outline a path to fiscal sustainability and create a plan to replenish our reserves,” Modica wrote in an email to city staff this week.

The city has pledged to prioritize rebuilding the emergency reserve as part of that process — but with revenues still soft and costs still climbing, officials have offered no guarantee the city won’t be back in the same position next year.

Municipalities across the region, including Santa Ana, Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange and Riverside County, have faced similar pressures to draw on reserves, blaming culprits like soft sales and hotel tax revenues, rising pension and labor costs, and federal and state aid that has either flattened or rescinded.

The city of Los Angeles pulled $358 million from its general fund reserves last year, and San Diego has repeatedly drawn down its savings, a trend officials there expect to continue.

After Modica presents his budget and the mayor recommends his changes, the Long Beach City Council must discuss, adjust and approve it by the end of September.

To understand how the World Cup went in Los Angeles this summer, look no further than the watch parties.

The city of L.A.'s events — branded "Kick it in the Park" — were neighborhood picnics. People could turn up, put up a camping chair, and watch the game in a local park.

In total, the city reports that at least 35,000 people attended them over the past month. Crowds packed Sycamore Grove Park to see Mexico take down Ecuador on a massive screen. At Echo Park Lake, people watched Lionel Messi score a hat trick in Argentina's opening match.

FIFA's official "fan zones" told another story. They were ticketed, fenced off and sometimes expensive. The one on Venice Beach had some locals in an uproar after organizers promised a free block party and under-delivered.

At another fan zone at the Original Farmer's Market, tickets were cheap but once inside, attendees were left to watch the matches from a hot parking lot. If you wanted a beer, the designated drinking area didn't have a clear view of the screens.

After 39 days of soccer, eight matches at SoFi Stadium and many more events big and small across the region, reviews of the tournament have broadly been positive.

People flocked to bars and public viewing parties. Angelenos wore green with pride to root for Mexico. New fans were, at least temporarily, won over by the beautiful game.

But FIFA, with its high ticket prices to get inside the stadium and branded events, had more mixed reviews, and faced protests, too. Some wondered what their community was getting out of all the hubbub.

A group gathered in Downtown Los Angeles last week to protest FIFA and 2026 World Cup corporate sponsors.

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This balance — enjoying the soccer, but being weary of what comes with it — was a throughline throughout the tournament. So was the sentiment that the World Cup was merely a warm-up lap for the coming 2028 summer Olympics.

" [It's] a tremendous opportunity for us to learn and practice for the '28 Games," said Paul Krekorian, the former L.A. City Council president who leads the city's major events office.

One example of this was public transit. Metro launched a special bus system specifically to take people to and from SoFi Stadium, and it delivered tens of thousands of people there each match. An even larger bus fleet will be needed for the Olympics, which event organizers compare to hosting seven Super Bowls a day for a month.

"The reason we were excited to take on an event like the World Cup before the Super Bowl and the 2028 Games in the first place is because this is where you get the true teaching moments," Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins wrote in a blog post about the World Cup success.

Metro unveiled its enhanced services during the 2026 World Cup on March 4.

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Other moments during the tournament hinted at the ways mega-events can go south.

A free city watch party for the Korea-Mexico match at Seoul Park was overcrowded and chaotic when thousands more people showed up than organizers expected.

The Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights broke out in flames during the World Cup, spewing thick smoke across swaths of the city and surrounding areas. The bad air didn't force FIFA to change plans at SoFi Stadium, but had things gone differently, it could have.

Crowds packed a block party near Mariachi Plaza to watch Mexico defeat South Korea one day after the fire sparked.

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And a community event in South L.A. was disrupted when someone flew a drone to take photos and the FBI, Homeland Security and LAPD descended to enforce a strict World Cup anti-drone policy. The nonprofit involved called it an unintended consequence of having high-security sporting events in Los Angeles.

All those issues — crowds, fires and security — will undoubtedly come up again in the lead-up to 2028. They also mean some people will be happy to bid the 2026 World Cup farewell.

Still, many will miss the tournament in Los Angeles, which brought thousands of us out to public spaces to be together. Many of L.A.'s communities got to celebrate their heritage. And everyone could participate. You could strike up conversation simply by wearing your team's jersey while out and about.

That collective, temporary madness is over now. But it was fun while it lasted.