Flamengo and Espérance fans lit up the city, then the Linc’s first game of the Club World Cup

The wave started building at lunchtime on South Broad Street, with Espérance fans enjoying the postcard view that generations of Philadelphians have treasured. They went to Reading Terminal Market, too, further livening what’s always one of the city’s liveliest scenes.

On the other side of City Hall, the colors changed from the Tunisian club’s red and gold to Flamengo’s red and black. The Brazilian giant’s legions were ready to announce themselves, and they did so from the top of the Art Museum steps. Just after 3 p.m., they raised drums, flags, and scarves, their joy echoing down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Some Espérance fans were up there too, wanting to be part of the party. Whether from the club’s home in Tunisia or closer by, they knew the world’s game brings people together like nothing else.

Soccer is not new to Philadelphia anymore. Lincoln Financial Field opened nearly 22 years ago with one of the biggest friendlies in American history, when Barcelona faced Manchester United, and has hosted multiple matches since. The Union are in their 16th season at Subaru Park. But for all the balls that have been kicked on grass, the city has never truly seen the kind of cultural moment that also defines the sport.

This, finally, was it: the singing, the dancing, the music, the vibe. And the city paid attention, from passersby to these pages and TV news cameras.

Near sunset, the wave crashed into Lincoln Financial Field. Few of the visitors for either team likely had heard of the Palestra, but the noise from the evenly split crowd of 25,797 felt like an old-school Big 5 game.

Flamengo fans took up the north end stands, and the Espérance faithful thundered their cheers from the south end. Many of the latter had flown from Tunisia, with media from there estimating the traveling party at a few thousand.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia gets to meet Flamengo, a Brazilian soccer giant with a giant fan base

It may sound disappointing that the attendance was well below the stadium’s capacity of roughly 68,000. That certainly was a clear response to FIFA setting ticket prices for the tournament far too high under Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system, so high that prices for many games ended up falling, instead of rising as they usually do for concerts.

Still, a soccer fan would take this crowd over a bigger but quieter one. There certainly will be a comparison to make when English superpower Manchester City plays Morocco’s Wydad AC here on Wednesday (noon, DAZN).

When the game kicked off, it was no surprise that Flamengo was the better team. The Rubro-Negro — scarlet-and-black in Portuguese — had star power in former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho and Uruguay national team veterans Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Guillermo Varela. They were in control for most of the night in a 2-0 win.

De Arrascaeta scored the opening goal in the 17th minute, set up by former Atlanta United winger Luiz Araújo. The provider turned scorer in the 70th, curling a gorgeous shot from near the top corner of the 18-yard box.

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Espérance gave it their best shot, and their fans were right there with them. They never let up their cheering and continued well past the final whistle. The players applauded them during pregame warmups and again after the game.

“It was nice to see both sides singing and cheering — that’s what the World Cup is about,” Flamengo forward Bruno Henrique said. “In World Cups, we expect the stadium to be completely full, but for some games, that’s not going to happen. For the first game, I thought the fans of both sides came and supported the team the whole time, and we were very happy with the support of our fans.”

Espérance midfielder Mohamed Wael Derbali said the team is used to its fans traveling for big games in Tunisia’s domestic league and the African Champions League. So he wasn’t surprised to see them come this far.

“We thank them and ask them to stay with us for the upcoming games,” he said. “We enjoy it. We know Espérance has a big following, and they’re always with us in the [African] Champions League and our domestic league. … We hope there will be a lot of them for the next games, and we’ll do everything we can to make them happy.”

» READ MORE: Meet the teams and players who will be competing in Philly during the Club World Cup

Both teams will play at the Linc again in the tournament. Flamengo will face Chelsea on Friday (2 p.m., TNT, DAZN), and Espérance’s turn against Chelsea will come Tuesday in the teams’ group stage finale (9 p.m., DAZN).

Flamengo goalkeeper Agustín Rossi is looking forward to Friday’s atmosphere. So are local soccer fans in town who circled that game as the best of Philadelphia’s six group stage contests. It won’t be a sellout, between the awkward kickoff time and tickets starting at nearly $100. But a big crowd is expected, with most of the upper and lower decks sold.

“We knew there would be a lot of people, a lot of Flamengo fans supporting us,” Rossi said. “Now we have Friday’s game, too, and I hope it will have even more fans. I’m very happy because the fans’ support helps us a lot on the field, and that’s also part of our victory.”