The World Cup opener in Moscow drew a rabid crowd of more than 78,000 Thursday, but the tournament wasn’t as warmly embraced in Yekaterinburg, where Friday’s game between Egypt and Uruguay was watched by wide swaths of empty seats.
Attendance at Yekaterinburg Arena was listed at 27,015, more than 6,000 below capacity, although that appeared to be a very generous account given the vast number of empty seats visible on TV. Most of the vacant seats were the bright orange ones in the lower bowl, where viewers couldn’t miss them.
Crowds at the two other second-day games were much better.