But she didn\u2019t let it dampen her excitement.<\/p>\n
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\n New York and New Jersey have welcomed fans from around the globe during the World Cup (Charly Triballeau\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Day after day, Bustillo experienced the World Cup through the guests staying at the Lexington Hotel. Before Brazil\u2019s match against Morocco, she cleaned a room occupied by Brazilian supporters.\u00a0\u201cI told them, \u2018I\u2019m not Brazilian, but I\u2019m rooting for you,’\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
The fans were touched by her enthusiasm. Before they left, they gave her a Brazil jersey and a handful of souvenirs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then the World Cup came back to her.<\/p>\n
Bustillo was one of 24 hotel employees from New York and New Jersey, represented by the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO, chosen for their volunteer work to attend a match at MetLife Stadium.\u00a0The union\u2019s initiative is part of a broader effort by New York and New Jersey officials to make World Cup tickets available to residents who might otherwise be priced out. Throughout the tournament, state and city programs have distributed or reserved tickets for more than 2,500 people across the region.<\/p>\n
When Bustillo\u2019s phone rang with the news, she could hardly believe it. She was going to watch Panama play England in the group stage.<\/p>\n
A few days later, while cleaning rooms, she saw Panama jerseys and struck up a conversation with the guests.\u00a0\u201cI will be at the game,\u201d she told them. Surprised, the Panamanian guests asked her to cheer for Panama. \u201c\u2018Of course I will\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
For her, this was the beauty of the tournament. Honduras was not in the World Cup, so she adopted the region. She cheered for the South American teams: Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina. She also rooted for the United States and England. The allegiances were flexible, but the feeling was not.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like the whole country is celebrating,\u201d Bustillo says. \u201cWe all come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Martha Bustillo was offered the chance to go to the MetLife Stadium (Hotel & Gaming Trades Council)<\/p>\n
That sense of unity ran throughout the experience for Sonia Martinez, a hospitality worker from Ecuador whose job as an attendant involves greeting guests and attending to their needs during their stay at the Westhouse hotel.\u00a0 \u201cThere was diversity, people from all over the world,\u201d Martinez tells The Athletic. \u201cDifferent opinions, different ideas, all together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez\u2019s relationship with soccer and the World Cup was even deeper. Her father was a general in Ecuador, and her family followed the sport closely. She described herself as a more casual fan than some of her relatives, but this summer brought back memories of how deeply the game is embedded in life across Latin America. Plus, her country was participating in the World Cup. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe did great,\u201d she says. \u201cWe lost to Mexico<\/a>, yes, but we played very well even against them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As a child, she remembered World Cups past when children collected and traded Panini stickers, then went outside to create their versions of the tournament in the street. One group would be Brazil, another Argentina. It did not matter if it was raining. It did not matter that the country where they lived was not hosting. The World Cup belonged to everyone.<\/p>\n For Lisette Alba, a Peruvian who works at the Lexington Hotel\u2019s front desk, the job means being the first person many visitors encountered when they arrived. It was about more than processing reservations. Many guests had traveled from abroad not only to attend World Cup matches, but to experience New York for the first time, and Lisette wanted that arrival to feel special. The tournament also carried a more personal meaning. As a Peruvian, Lisette grew up watching World Cups even when Peru was not participating.\u00a0<\/p>\n But she never imagined seeing a World Cup match in person in the U.S.<\/p>\n The idea seemed impossible. Ticket prices were too high. The process felt inaccessible. Fans had to enter lotteries and faced costs that put the tournament out of reach for many of the very workers helping host it.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely saw it as impossible,\u201d Alba tells The Athletic. \u201cI could not afford to buy a ticket.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bustillo said her family told her to go because an opportunity like that \u201cdoesn\u2019t happen to just anyone.\u201d When they were handed tickets, Martinez compared it to winning the lottery. Alba saw it as a gift.<\/p>\n \n The Panama and England flags on the pitch before kick-off (Timothy A. Clary \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n The surprise did not end when they arrived at the stadium.<\/p>\n As soon as they stepped off the bus, Bustillo noticed a sign that read, \u201cVIP.\u201d She turned to her friend and said she had a feeling they were going there.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d the other woman told her. But Bustillo was right.<\/p>\n The group were taken to a VIP suite. They received commemorative posters. There was food and drink, and, from the third-floor suite, the view felt almost eye to eye with the players.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought we were just going to go and sit with the fans,\u201d Martinez says. \u201cI never imagined they were going to give us something so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n For Bustillo, who has worked in hotels for 29 years and is preparing for retirement, the trip to MetLife felt like the kind of reward she never expected at this stage of her career.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t had the union, I wouldn\u2019t have gone,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Diaspora fans are showing up for \u2014 and saving \u2014 this World Cup<\/p>\n Amy Lawrence<\/p>\n The experience overjoyed them. They were workers accustomed to serving guests at the city\u2019s biggest events. For one afternoon, they were the guests.<\/p>\n As the teams emerged and the national anthems began, Bustillo found herself staring at the sea of flags, which she said looked like an open book spread across the stadium. Anthems, she says, have always made her nostalgic. So do goals.<\/p>\n On a rainy afternoon during the group stage, Panama held England scoreless through the first half. When Los Canaleros<\/a> appeared to score, the suite erupted. The goal was eventually ruled out, but for a few fleeting seconds, that hardly mattered. The women celebrated anyway. As Spanish-speaking Latin American immigrants, they had their loyalties firmly with Panama. The team did not advance from the group, but it made a European powerhouse work for the victory.<\/p>\n Post-game, in the neighboring suite, England supporters smiled, posed for photos with them and even wore union jerseys. Before long, the women were joking that they had become the tournament\u2019s \u201cunion national team\u201d. The experience was made even more meaningful, they said, because it recognized the hotel workers that had helped New York function as a World Cup host city.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe work very hard,\u201d Bustillo says. \u201cWe made every effort to give them the best, so they would leave with good experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Some of the luck 24 enjoy their moment in the stands (Hotel & Gaming Trades Council)<\/p>\n Bustillo, Martinez and Alba are among the handful of New York and New Jersey residents who attended the World Cup games free or at a heavily reduced price<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2283090676-scaled.jpg\")
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