Live blog: Boston reaches World Cup fever pitch with first match set to start in Foxborough

After months of hype, infighting, sticker shock and genuine cuteness, it's time to play soccer (excuse us, football). Scotland and Haiti will face off in a Group C match at "Boston Stadium," aka Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

We'll continue to update this post until the match is over. Feel free to check back in throughout the evening.

As packed at the sidewalks were outside of South Station today, things seemed to go smoothly. Here's more on the amiable mob from WBUR's Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez:

MBTA Senior advisor Rod Brooks watched the crowd lining up on Summer Street. He said a lot of the boarding groups were at the station at the same time, “but it’s controlled.”

The line was steadily moving.

“The trains are getting loaded, we’re in good shape,” he said about halfway through the queuing process.

Outside the station, a Scottish fan, Douglas Macleod lamented the long boarding line after standing in it for about an hour.

“I've been in queues, but this is the longest queue I've ever been in in my entire life, like, ever” he said.  “Like, it's the longest queue I've ever seen for anywhere, ever.”

But 14-year-old Yahia Chakar, of Charlestown, shone bright with elation as he took in the action at South Station leading to his first ever in-person soccer match. Clad in a Morocco jersey, he said his father Mustapha Chakar, surprised him and his sister with the tickets the night before.

“ I'm one of, like, 10 of my family members who live in the U.S., so being able to have the opportunity of going to a World Cup match, for the first time and being one of the only people in my family eligible to do this, it feels, like, honorable,” Yahia said.

The Chakars planned to take in some of the Morocco-Brazil match before going to the stadium, “ I wish Morocco’s going to win 3-0,” the elder Chakar said, hours before the two teams fought to a draw. “And after that, we're going to support Haiti.”

Congratulations, you've survived the hype and made it to kickoff. Scotland vs. Haiti is officially underway in Foxborough.

This match has been a long time coming for both countries. Scotland hasn't been to the World Cup in 28 years. According to the Fox broadcast, eight of the team's players weren't born in 1998, when Scotland was last featured in the tournament. Phew.

But that's like yesterday compared to Haiti, which hasn't made it to the World cup in 52 years. As WBUR's Nik DeCosta-Klipa wrote in our teams preview, the accomplishment is all the more remarkable because they never played a match in their home nation during the qualifying games.

Keep an eye out for Melrose's Frantzdy Pierrot, who'll lead Haiti's attack as a starting forward tonight. For the Scots, don't sleep on Scott McTominay, their gifted midfielder who scored a gobsmacking goal against Denmark to help the team make the World Cup.

We're 27 minutes away from kickoff in Foxborough, but folks in Boston and around the state are already out and celebrating. The official Boston Fan Festival opened its gates at 2 p.m. Across the state, cities and towns have set up watch parties with food, drinks, music and monster screens playing the match. Here's a handy map to help you spot some fun close to home:

And if you want to root your team on in a more traditional soccer setting, there are plenty of bars, cafes and restaurants tuning in to the World Cup. Here's a run-down of some of the area's prominent soccer bars.

Tonight's match between Scotland and Haiti is part of the World Cup's group stage. Unlike American playoff tournaments, like March Madness, the World Cup has a first round where a team can lose but still continue competing.

There are 64 national teams playing in the World Cup. A few months ago, FIFA sorted these clubs into four levels of relative talent, called pots. Then they held a big lottery, where a team from each pot was added to one of 12 groups. The idea is each group has an elite team, a really good team, a pretty good team, and a "Look ma, I'm in the World Cup!" team.

Scotland (pot 3) and Haiti (pot 4) are in Group C, along with Brazil (pot 1) and Morocco (pot 2). They'll all play each other in the group round, and the two best teams move on to the knockout rounds. The eight best third-place teams in the group stage also move on.

Brazil and Morocco's match in New Jersey just ended in a 1-1 tie, so if either Scotland or Haiti can pull off a win tonight, they'll lead the group.

If you're wondering, the U.S. men are a "pot 1" team. Not because they're an elite club, alas; they get that honor because they're a host nation, along with Canada and Mexico. That may explain how a team as good as Morocco ended up in pot 2.

Here are all the groups in the World Cup:

There are lots of World Cup fandoms here in Massachusetts, including thousands of Haitians, Brazilians and Moroccans watching Group C matches tonight. But the biggest surprise may be the arrival of the Tartan Army — traveling Scots here to watch their beloved Scotland play its first World Cup match since 1998. To say they're excited about their return to football's biggest stage would be an understatement.

The plaid partisans have descended on the city, bringing a party vibe wherever they go. Like Boston Common, where they greeted a fellow traveler who just walked 3,500 miles from Los Angeles to Boston to raise money for a mental health charity. (If you're interested in the math, that's three-and-a-half times the 500 miles and 500 more The Proclaimers said they'd walk to be your man. Talk about commitment.)

And down in Providence, WBUR's Eve Zuckoff was there as more Scots packed some school buses they chartered to get to tonight's match. Their departure was a bit delayed as late stragglers and cases of Narragansett beer were piled into the convoy. Bus driver Linda Semper told Zuckoff she's “only seen this many Scots on Outlander.”

If you're new to soccer, the vocabulary can feel a little daunting. You'll get it eventually, but it helps to have a crib sheet to explain things as you go. Call it a security blanket.

We wrote a very long, very detailed and (hopefully) very fun glossary to help you with the Britishisms that slip into even the American broadcasts. You can read that here.

If you're the kind of person who needs a rooting interest to watch a game, you may be interested in cheering for the guy from Massachusetts.

Melrose's Frantzdy Pierrot has played 52 games for Haiti since 2019, scoring 34 goals along the way. The 31-year-old striker was feted by Gov. Maura Healey ahead of this year's tournament.

You can read more about Pierrot here.

He's not the only Bay Stater playing in the World Cup. The other is from the other side of the Middlesex Fells: Miles Robinson, of Arlington, is a defender for the U.S. team.

If you're curious about the rest of the U.S. men's national team players, learn more here.

After all the sturm und drang over the MBTA's World Cup rail plans, and the $80 tickets, and the fight over street closures, and and and, we finally got to see whether people would bother with catching a ride.

Boy howdy, did they. The first train from South Station to Foxborough was sold out, ferrying thousands people to the stadium, according to T officials at the scene. The queue of travelers stretched from the platform, through the station and out into the street, with WBUR's Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez describing it like the lines at Disney World.

Kickoff is scheduled for 9 p.m., but WBUR has been busy all day, checking in on travelers grabbing that $80 train to Foxborough, riding the school bus with the Tartan Army, taking in the crowd at the official Fan Festival on Boston's City Hall Plaza and, later tonight, chilling with a Haitian family as they watch the match in their Foxborough living room. We'll be updating here to keep you up to speed as the evening progresses.

If you're staying home, you can catch the match in English on Fox or on the Fox One app. Tune in to Telemundo or log in to Peacock to watch the match in Spanish.

You can also head down to your local sports bar or community watch party to take in the vibe. Even if you're a person who dismisses "sportsball," you’re going to feel the giddiness from the fans. It’s infectious. Let yourself enjoy it!