Would you travel thousands of miles to go to the Fifa World Cup, even if your country wasn't playing?
Neither Northern Ireland nor the Republic of Ireland qualified for the tournament. However, this has not deterred some football fans from making the journey to North America to witness some of the world's top teams in action.
NI has spoken with several fans about the lengths they would go to for their passion for the sport.
'It's great to see people from all over the world'
Originally from Coleraine, Roger Woodend now resides in Philadelphia. His journey to the World Cup is relatively shorter than some others, but still involves traveling to a different country—in this case, Canada—to watch a match.
This trip has become something of a tradition for him and his friend Alex Logan, who is from Ballymoney but currently lives in Scotland. Both previously attended the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, a tournament that also did not feature Northern Ireland, yet the country was still represented through the pair’s matching green and white jerseys.
"It is amazing. It's fantastic. It's great to see people from all over the world here supporting their team. It's great to see the Americans embracing it," Woodend said.
"It's a really good atmosphere, there's a real massive energy around the whole place."
Logan agreed that although football—referred to as soccer in the US—is not the biggest sport in America, "people are getting into it."
"It just feels like a proper World Cup atmosphere. I know there's been a lot of concerns about all sorts of different things, but to me, it's just a real normal World Cup."
The first match they attended was Canada versus Bosnia-Herzegovina at Toronto Stadium, a fixture that would have been one of Northern Ireland's games.
Woodend mentioned that they even encountered a group of fans who had traveled from Bangor, County Down.
"It's a shame we didn't make it. I'm hoping that we'll make it to the next one."
'A good buzz around the place'
Richard Kehoe, a primary school teacher and junior football coach from Newry, supports the Republic of Ireland. He traveled to the United States with his father and met up with his brother, who now lives in North Carolina.
They watched South Africa take on the Czech Republic—a match that would have been one of Ireland's had they qualified.
"We were talking about the possibility of Ireland getting through to the World Cup and traveling over to meet him and one of the games would be in Atlanta, which was only a three or four hour drive away from him.
We decided to go ahead and take the chance and book flights," he said.
He added that it was "heartbreaking" when Ireland did not qualify.
"As the weeks have gone on I'm back excited again just to get over, there'll be a good buzz around the place."
Ronan Quinn from Omagh plans to visit Toronto to see friends who have relocated there. As a "big football fan," he views it as a "good excuse to go and see the World Cup," considering it is "probably a once in a lifetime thing."
He has paid approximately £200 for tickets to watch Senegal face Iraq.
Money has been a topic of discussion at this World Cup, with several fans telling that for some, the cost of attending the tournament has reached into the thousands. Nevertheless, their passion for football and the memories they hope to create help ease the financial burden.
"I think, you know, for a sporting event. It's not too bad."
Jonny Blair is also traveling to Canada, hoping the World Cup "buzz" will offer just as much enjoyment.
"We're going to do the fan zone," he said.
"I've already been to the World Cup twice. I've been to like four World Cup games. I've been to the Euros to watch Northern Ireland men's, Northern Ireland women.
So, I've done a lot of major tournament matches and I'm quite happy to sort of catch the buzz and the vibe of people in and around the stadium without having to pay a few hundred quid to get in.
I'm not going to miss anything by not being inside the stadium.
I don't want to deprive the right for someone from Ghana or Canada of their ticket."
He said part of the joy is that tournaments "bring people together in a positive way."
"When the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were together at the Euros, we would bump into each other and have a right laugh. It brings countries together."
