How Algeria won over a Kansas town – and became the World Cup’s unlikeliest love affair

You’ve probably seen it by now: The video of a sweet elderly man overcome with emotion, standing outside in the rain and thunderstorms of Lawrence, Kansas , as Algeria arrived at its base camp. The video and several more have gone viral as the surprise love affair of the World Cup has emerged from what seems like the unlikeliest of places – at least to those on the outside. Algeria and Lawrence, Kansas, are apparently a match made in heaven. “Seeing five to six hundred people that first evening, fans that were waiting outside our hotel, it really gave me goosebumps,” said Algeria head coach Valdimir Petković ahead of Tuesday’s showdown with Argentina. Allow content provided by a third party? This article includes content hosted on platform.x.com. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue' . Lawrence is located a little over 40 miles from Kansas City, a roughly 40-minute drive from the Metropolitan area that is hosting the base camps of Argentina, the Netherlands, and England for the World Cup . All three are staying at boutique hotels around the city. Algeria? Well, they chose the humble Lawrence DoubleTree. So where did this come from? According to Stan Herd, a local artist, you have to go back to April, when it was officially announced that Lawrence would host Algeria. “I think everybody’s surprised at it,” Herd said. …