Canadian soccer fans face a World Cup dilemma as they weigh whether to follow the national team to the United States for the knockout rounds or stay home as cross-border tensions complicate travel. Canada played all three of its group-stage matches at home. After advancing to the round of 32 as the group runner-up, the team is heading to Los Angeles to become the first host country in World Cup history to play a knockout match abroad. Fans must now decide whether to support the team in person or avoid crossing the border.
"I know a lot of people still have hard feelings and that's understandable. I mean, there's been a weird relationship that's going on now," said Canadian fan Silas.
Trade frictions between the U.S. and Canada, along with Trump's comments about making Canada "the 51st state," have turned many Canadians against their southern neighbor. A growing number are now steering clear of U.S. travel.
Data from Statistics Canada shows the number of Canadian residents visiting the U.S. dropped roughly 25 percent last year compared with the previous year.
However, many Canadian fans are willing to put politics aside for the sake of the world's biggest sporting event.
"It is a dilemma, but, sport tends to unite us. It brings us together and I think the World Cup is doing that," said Brad, a Canadian fan.
"It might be a problem any other day, but, this kind of transcends all that and I'm not worried about that at all," said another fan named Jeff.
Canadian fans face dilemma as World Cup knockouts move to U.S.
A Chinese couple residing in Venezuela's capital Caracas who lost their home in the powerful earthquakes capital last week have recounted their harrowing escape, as search and rescue operations continue across the affected areas.
Wu, a Chinese national from Guangdong Province, told China Media Group (CMG) on Sunday that she and her husband were at their small grocery store when the quake hit, sparing them from the collapse of their five-story residential building in the Altamira district of Chacao Municipality in eastern Caracas.
"The building had five floors and I lived on the second floor. We were at the store when it happened. When we came back, I never expected the building had collapsed. We were lucky no one was home," Wu said.
Wu said many residents were at home on the day of the earthquake as it was a holiday, thus causing heavy casualties.
A military official at the scene, speaking via text message, said about 30 civil defense rescue personnel and 50 military personnel were involved in the search operation, with firefighters working in rotating shifts. In the first 72 hours, rescue teams worked around the clock and saved seven survivors on the first day.
A private company manager involved in rescue efforts said that while the earthquake caused some damage to Chacao, most infrastructure remained largely intact as buildings were generally constructed to seismic standards. The collapsed residential building, however, was built earlier and may not have met subsequent code updates.
Despite the rain, rescue operations continued at the site.
"We expect to find between 12 and 20 more people. Hope is always the last to disappear, and we still believe survivors are out there. We have heavy equipment and excavators on site, but we urgently need more dump trucks to continue the operation," said Maiko, a rescue volunteer.
Quake survivor recounts horror moment as rescue efforts continue in Venezuela
