Minnesotans rush north to Winnipeg for Women's World Cup

Not much time had passed in Monday's U.S. vs. Australia women's soccer game when Karoline Gustafson noticed something odd about the crowd. A healthy majority of the 31,000 people in Winnipeg Stadium were pulling for the Americans.

Then U.S. midfielder Megan Rapinoe scored her second goal, "and the whole stadium just erupted," said Gustafson, who drove up from her home in Fergus Falls. Lured by the proximity — just 90 minutes north of Minnesota's border with Canada — and the promise of seeing U.S. soccer stars like Abby Wambach and Hope Solo, thousands of U.S. soccer fans have made the trek this week into Winnipeg, one of six Canadian cities playing host to the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Minnesotans, in particular, are out in full force.

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"We're definitely seeing the 10,000 lakes license plate all over the place," said Alan MacPherson, spokesman for Tourism Winnipeg. A tour operator told him that a guided walk through the Manitoba Legislative Building this week drew 70 people, and all but two were from the U.S., most of them Minnesotans.

"I'd say we're almost being invaded," laughed Jordon Lanthier of the Delta Winnipeg Hotel. He didn't have hard numbers to prove who was from where at the sold-out hotel, but he's seen plenty of anecdotal evidence that Winnipeg's guests this week come from Minnesota.

"The accent," he said.

A group of nearly 160 people from the Edina Soccer Club cheered on the U.S. women's team Monday as it dispatched Australia 3-1. From Orono, a group of 30 girls and 27 adults took a bus to Winnipeg to see two U.S. games and play in their own tournament.

The crush of fans bogged down a popular border crossing on the eve of the first U.S. game. They snapped up the World Cup T-shirts and jerseys for sale at Winnipeg Stadium, which reportedly sold out of most U.S. and World Cup merchandise. Hotel rooms in Winnipeg sold out long ago, with some fans giving up and staying in Grand Forks instead.

Chad Falk, FIFA's Winnipeg venue manager, said the number of U.S. fans who showed up for the games was more than expected.

"It's definitely surprised us a little bit," he said.

Even chicken fingers were hard to come by in Winnipeg Stadium as the hordes of fans bought most of the available food from stadium vendors while watching two 90-minute games, said Caroline Bjellos of Big Lake, who took her soccer-playing daughter, Mady to see the first U.S. game Monday. She kept Mady happy by buying her two orders of french fries instead.

The U.S. women's team has twice won the World Cup, its last victory coming in 1999 when Brandi Chastain scored on the fifth kick in a penalty shootout, whipped off her jersey to reveal a sports bra and set the U.S. buzzing with women's soccer fever.

U.S. Youth Soccer registers more than 3 million players annually, ages 5 to 19, a figure that has been fairly steady for more than a decade. But the percentage of girls playing soccer has been climbing, from 45 percent of youth players in 2000 to 48 percent in 2008, the most recent figure available. Todd Roby, a spokesman for the organization, said he is confident that it is at least 48 percent today, and "probably closer to 50/50."

In Minnesota, girls outnumber boys 52 percent to 48 percent, according to figures from the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association. Minnesota ranks 11th in the country for the number of kids per 1,000 who are playing club soccer.

The Orono girls had been raising funds for their trip since December, said trip organizer Summer Taylor. Their hobby when not watching the U.S. team play has been trying to find the players at their hotel for signatures and photos.

Jeff Northrup, a coach with the Edina Soccer Club and father to four girls who all play, said he was struck by the number of men and boys he saw wearing jerseys of players from the U.S. women's team.

"You always see the opposite, with little girls wearing a [Landon] Donovan jersey," he said, mentioning the all-time scoring leader for the U.S. men's team. He's also seen plenty of Minnesota jerseys and Minnesota college sweatshirts at Winnipeg Stadium.

A Canadian border official said the crossings this week were running much higher than normal. The main crossing from North Dakota into Emerson, Manitoba, saw lines as long as 3½ hours Sunday night, while crossings into Gretna and Tolstoi, Manitoba saw heavier traffic as well, said Jacqueline Callin of the Canada Border Services Agency. Wait times have returned to more normal levels, she said.

This past Saturday and Sunday, officers at Emerson processed about 10,650 travelers, 87 percent more than the comparable weekend a year ago. Though border officials have seen vehicles from a broad mix of states — including one from Hawaii — most are from Minnesota, Callin added.

Bjellos found long lines for World Cup merchandise inside Winnipeg Stadium, waiting three hours to buy sweatshirts, T-shirts and other World Cup gear. Her daughter watched the Nigeria vs. Sweden game that was the first of that day's doubleheader while she waited.

"They had two registers going inside the fan shop, which is crazy for that arena," she said.

The U.S. women are currently ranked second, behind Germany, but Bjellos said her family has already bought their tickets for the July 5 final in Vancouver, expecting to see the U.S. in it.

She was planning to head back up with her daughter to see more U.S. soccer Friday. "The drive is no fun but I can't wait to go back."

Bloomington resident Amy Steege planned to drive to Winnipeg Thursday to meet up with a college friend and see the U.S. game Friday.

Her soccer-playing daughters will follow along from home, whether by watching the games on television or playing with the new World Cup sticker books Steege bought for them at Target.

Steege, who played for Princeton when she was in college, said her daughters were inspired by this week's World Cup games. They watched the U.S. team play Australia on Monday, and her daughter Ruby, who just finished kindergarten, took to the field Tuesday night with new vigor.

"They're totally fired up about it," she said.