For a good 15 years when World Cup fever heats up, a pop-up soccer flag stand appears at the corner of Warden Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East in Scarborough.
Now managed by soccer fan Walid Abdul, the spot sees a steady stream of soccer lovers during most lunch hours and evenings.
“Everybody’s excited and everybody wants to represent who they’re cheering for,” said Abdul.
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Very few are shy about which country they are supporting. During a recent visit, Alicia, who is originally from Cuba, marched up to the flag stand and makes her demand for Argentinian mirror flags.
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“Argentina is going to be number one — number one — remember this,” she said.
Another soccer supporter from Mexico rolls in to purchase a car window flag representing her native country but she admitted she supports several other teams.
“Hoping to find something from Mexico or Argentina, Brazil — the best teams, my favourite ones,” she said.
While many come to purchase the car window flags, Abdul opened a package to unravel what he calls this year’s hottest items: hood and mirror covers.
The hood covers will fetch you $35 and the mirror covers are $15 for the pair.
Abdul said his buyers have learned to come the day before a game in order to make their national pride purchases, otherwise they could be shut out.
But Abdul said tries to have inventory for what he lines up as the most popular 2018 World Cup countries.
“Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal,” he said.
“So, usually there’s four or five countries that are around the same level in terms of popularity and sales.”