American sports fans were confused at the sight of an NFL quarterback’s appearance during a FIFA World Cup game in Seattle on Friday evening.
In the final game of the night at Seattle Stadium, Egypt was taking on Iran in the final match of Group G action.
Late in the first half of the game, the cameras panned up and showed one of the VIPs in attendance: the first-overall pick from this year’s NFL draft, Fernando Mendoza.
Mendoza, fresh off winning a national championship with Indiana University, was perched up in a suite watching on while wearing a retro Adidas sweatshirt from the 1994 World Cup.
But his attendance was something of a surprise considering his lack of connection to the event and to the area.
Mendoza is a Cuban-American from Miami, who played college football at Cal and Indiana, and was drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Top NFL Draft pick Fernando Mendoza was seen enjoying Egypt-Iran at the World Cup
But fans were confused considering Mendoza has no connection to either country competing in the match nor any connection to Seattle either in college or in the NFL
The match between the two nations was a thriller that ended in a 1-1 draw
Due to this, social media was openly wondering why Mendoza was at Egypt-Iran in a city he doesn’t have anything to do with.
‘What the hell is Fernando Mendoza doing at an Iran Egypt game,’ wondered one user on X.
Another asked, ‘why would he choose this game?’ while a different commenter posted, ‘wait why is fernando mendoza in seattle of all places?’
One post read, ‘Why is Fernando Mendoza at the Egypt/Iran game in Seattle? Lmao that’s so random.’
However, a few praised his choice – with one user branding him as ‘A man with taste.’
Mendoza was on hand for a thriller of a match between the two nations. Iran believed they had a game winner in the third minute of stoppage time, only for VAR to reverse the call via offside.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw with Egypt finishing second in the group and Iran coming third, with their hopes of progressing still alive.
