How many four-year cycles make up a lifetime? In many ways, life is just a series of World Cups.

With the FIFA World Cup happening right here in my home city of Seattle, I realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A colleague from a recent Bay Area business trip had told me how refreshing and worthwhile it is to experience the games in person, and another local friend had already secured their tickets. After chatting with my wife, we decided to check for last-minute sales.

On the night before, after a long 1.5-hour wait on the official FIFA website, we were staring at two options: a cheaper seat higher up, or a lower-level one closer to the action. Since it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime chance, we decided to go for the closer seats.

People Mountain, People Sea

On game day, I still went into the office in the morning for a 1:1 meeting. I had initially planned to leave by noon for the 1:00 PM kickoff, but on a friend’s advice, I bumped my departure up to 11:00 AM.

We hopped on the newly opened light rail over to Chinatown in Seattle. After a quick 25-minute stop for rice noodles, we walked over to Lumen Field. It was exactly as the Chinese saying goes: people mountain, people sea. It’s incredibly rare to see crowds of this scale in the US—I usually only see this on TV in China! After merging into the sea of fans, taking 25 minutes to get through security, and another 10 to navigate to our seats, we were glad we’d come—we ended up right in the middle of the action on the lower level.

The Atmosphere

We sat down right on time for Belgium vs. Senegal. The stadium was electric. Gigantic national flags covered each half of the field, followed by the national anthems and the players walking out hand-in-hand with young children. Right at 1:00 PM, the whistle blew.

I’ll admit, I’m not a massive soccer fanatic; my previous experience mostly consisted of watching YouTube highlight reels, and my wife had only ever attended local matches back in China. For the first few minutes, the game felt sleepy. Both sides played a highly conservative defensive strategy, constantly passing the ball backward—even to the goalkeeper—just to maintain possession.

But the crowd of 69,000 kept the energy alive. We had Senegal fans to our left and Belgium fans to our right. The entire stadium was doing the wave, standing up and sitting down like a massive ocean, roaring for their teams.

The 86th-Minute Miracle

Eventually, Senegal broke through and scored the first goal, quickly followed by a second. For 86 minutes, the score sat at 2-0. Almost everyone in the stadium thought Senegal had it in the bag.

Then, a miracle happened.

At the 86-minute mark, Belgium scored. I assumed the game would end as a respectable 2-1 loss for them, but just two minutes later, a shocking header found the back of the net. Suddenly, it was 2-2. Never give up, never concede defeat.

The momentum shifted entirely. For the first three quarters of the match, Senegal was aggressive while Belgium defended. But in the final stretch—and heading into the 30 minutes of extra time—Belgium launched a relentless offensive.

Real Life Calls

We originally thought the game would wrap up by 3:30 PM. However, due to the tie and extra time, 3:45 PM rolled around and they were still playing. Around 3:35 PM, amidst a moment of chaos on the field, the referee used VAR to award Belgium a penalty kick. They seized the opportunity and drove it home.

By 3:45 PM, we had to make a tough call. Real life was waiting, and we needed to beat the light rail crowds to pick up our two-year-old from daycare on time. On our way to the train, we watched the screens as Senegal got one last chance with a free kick, but they failed to score.

The final result: 3-2. An epic comeback for Belgium.

The Takeaway

Being there in person for a world-class event, feeling the palpable atmosphere of 70,000 fans celebrating, and having such a spectacular vantage point was an unforgettable experience.

But beyond the spectacle, the match itself was a masterclass in resilience. It taught us to never give up and never abandon hope. If a team can pull off a miraculous comeback and win after being down 0-2 at the 86th minute, anything is possible.

Life is exactly the same. You have to stay optimistic, and you have to keep pushing until the final whistle.