Fans watch the Turkiye National Football Team's open training session at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa on Monday. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
Soccer fans flooded Arizona Athletic Grounds on Monday to get a taste of World Cup action.
Zoom in: The Mesa facility is the training home of the Türkiye Men's National Team while they're in North America to compete in the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off tomorrow.
The latest: Monday was the only opportunity to see the team in action before their opening match against Australia on Saturday.
At least 3,000 people turned out for the special practice, KJZZ reported.
The intrigue: That's as close as locals will get to the World Cup without crossing state lines.
The Valley had originally planned to pitch State Farm Stadium in Glendale as one of the World Cup venues, but yanked its proposal in 2018, saying FIFA refused to provide details about the financial responsibility of hosting, the Phoenix Business Journal reported at the time.
State of play: This is the first time the tournament's been held in North America since 1994.
Matches are spread across 16 host cities, including 11 in the U.S.
