Spotlight on US as it takes its turn as World Cup hosts

LOS ANGELES, June 12 : The global soccer spotlight turned to Los Angeles on Friday, with organizers hoping that enthusiasm for the first World Cup tournament on U.S. soil since the 1990s would outweigh concerns about ticket pricing and entry visas that have overshadowed much of the run-up.

Co-hosts Mexico got the party started on Thursday, while Toronto welcomed fans to Canada's first match on Friday afternoon. The U.S. comes next, with an opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium featuring pop star Katy Perry at 4:30 p.m. local time (2330 GMT), followed by the U.S. soccer team getting their tournament underway with a match against Paraguay.

Soccer remains a relative minority sport in the U.S., with around a third of Americans telling pollsters they planned to watch the World Cup, well below many other competing nations. The sporting focus in the last week has been on the dramatic run of the New York Knicks in the NBA finals, with the team just one win away from ending a five-decade title drought.

But football fever is also growing, especially as fans pour in from around the world. Midtown Manhattan was a blaze of color on Thursday and Friday as Knicks fans in navy basketball jerseys mixed amiably with Brazil soccer fans in yellow banging drums and Mexican followers in jade green celebrating the first World Cup win of the tournament.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani - wearing a Knicks vest under his suit jacket - encouraged New Yorkers to attend the fan festivals and soccer exhibitions taking place across the city.

"When we celebrate the World Cup, we are celebrating a working-class sport and the working people who play it," said Mamdani, a longtime fan of English Premier League champions Arsenal. "It is the rare occasion that brings the