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The MetLife stadium, located in neighboring New Jersey but serving New York, will host its first fixture of the global soccer showcase Saturday when Brazil entertain Morocco (ANGELA WEISS)
It was Knicks vs. the World Cup in New York on Saturday, and only one winner.
The city was at a fever pitch as the hometown basketball team sat on the brink of a NBA Championship win -- pushing the Brazil vs. Morocco game deep into the shadows.
The World Cup "is going to be fun... but right now, I'm a New Yorker, so we're going for the Knicks, basketball! Let's take this win. And after that, we can think about the World Cup," said actor Robert Chen, 32, next to the Brooklyn bridge FIFA fan zone.
The MetLife stadium, located in neighboring New Jersey but serving Big Apple-based World Cup fans, faced a major test of its rail link to Manhattan.
"For those traveling throughout Manhattan, prepare for gridlock in Midtown," Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned Saturday, telling MetLife-bound fans to allow four to five hours for the journey.
Morten Vold, 37, wore a Brazil jersey as he headed to the stadium and praised the organization at the city's bustling Penn station where Morocco, Brazil and Knicks fans rubbed shoulders with dozens of national guard troops and police reinforcements.
"I previously looked up where to go and saw a video about it in the transit app," said Vold, from Bergen, Norway, who insisted he would cheer his home team after Saturday's match.
But he called the $98 price for a roundtrip ticket "insane compared to what it costs normally."
Away from the station, New York was a sea of Knicks orange as the team closed in on what will be their first title in 53 years if they win the clash with the San Antonio Spurs being played away in Texas.
"Everyone is kind of craving this victory, and it's excitement in the air... it's contagious," said Knicks fan and Queens-based street cart vendor Angel Diaz, 42.
"We're gonna have to take one thing at a time, and we're gonna do the Knicks first, and then we go back to the World Cup," added Diaz, who said the city would be "out of control" if the Knicks seal the deal.
Hundreds of thousands of fans were expected to descend on central New York for remote viewing of the fifth game of the NBA Finals series with the Knicks leading the San Antonio Spurs 3-1.
Police turned out in force for the first four games, both home and away, and officers were expected to flood Manhattan to deter the vandalism that marred earlier fixtures.
Soaring temperatures and the threat of thunderstorms could also put a dampener on festivities.
- Knicks 'over-shining' -
In an industrial section of Brooklyn, the manager of a Socceroof indoor five-a-side arena, 24-year-old Lucas Matuszewski, said that "obviously the Knicks, as they should, are over-shining" the World Cup.
"Basketball is so beloved in the city of New York."
Scotland fan Graeme Buckingham, 53, a fisherman from Banff, described the level of football fever as "poor" in New York, while nearby a hawker sold Knicks championship T-shirts outside the Wall Street stock exchange.
"I'd expected probably a bit more, a bit more fans. But as you see, it's basketball. They're not really into their soccer, are they?" he said as he prepared to travel to Boston with the Tartan Army for Scotland's inaugural match against Haiti.
"Looking at New York, there was a sign there outside a pub today, Mexico v. South Africa -- Champions' League. They didn't even know the tournament."
But there were signs that businesses were bracing for a delayed onset of football mania.
Vanessa Whalen, the owner of the Black Bull pub in Brooklyn, said "I do think it's going to get hectic and crazy without a doubt, and especially at this pub, because we're a football pub."
The convergence of hundreds of thousands of Knicks fans with football fans risked transport chaos.
While Madison Square Garden is not hosting Saturday's clash, there will be a viewing party for 3,000 fans outside the storied venue that sits directly above Penn Station.
The two games also clash with festivities around the Puerto Rican Day parade on Sunday, and a concert at MSG.
gw/ksb
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