In New York, enthusiasm for soccer is hampered by a lack of pitches.

Throughout the competition, Mayor Zohran Mamdani - himself a football fan and supporter of Arsenal - announced the opening of five free pitches, lit and accessible all night in several parts of the city.

But once the FIFA caravan has moved on, New Yorkers will have to find other ways to satisfy their passion.

"Finding an available pitch at a convenient time can be extremely difficult. We try to play early in the morning or late in the evening, to avoid the slots of the amateur championships," explains Scott Benson, 29, a passionate player and website designer.

While the iconic Central Park has several grass playing surfaces, their availability is more limited in the rest of the city, where synthetic turf and concrete fields dominate.

And many require permits, which are quickly snapped up by the various local championships.

Due to a lack of space, sports fields have sprung up inside former warehouses, such as the Socceroof chain's private sports complex in Brooklyn, wedged between a highway littered with debris and a pawn shop.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Every week, hundreds of amateur footballers from this Crown Heights neighborhood, often from Latin America or the Caribbean, gather on the artificial turf fields of this complex. Alternatives are scarce in the area.

Lucas Matuszewski, the complex manager, believes that these facilities are essential for an immigrant population often fans of football, which he describes as the "heart that makes the neighborhood beat".

"We are at a sort of crossroads for these communities, and we can offer a covered space to these people who come to New York, settle in Crown Heights and are looking for a little piece of their country," he said.

Some purists are particularly frustrated by the lack of grass pitches, which they believe offer a different playing experience from synthetic or concrete surfaces.

"A few grass pitches would be welcome (...) That said, the few times I've played on grass, the pitch was often very bumpy and hard," says Scott Benson, the enthusiast.

"It would be great if they were also well maintained... but the most important thing is to increase the total number of fields where we can play," he continued.

Four new synthetic playing fields were recently opened on an island near Manhattan, at an estimated cost of five million dollars.

The New York City Soccer Initiative, a partnership between the city, the New York City FC soccer club and private sponsors, is also building 26 mini-fields in local schools.

And demand is expected to increase: coach Kemar Darby observes that the enthusiasm of young people is exploding in the wake of the World Cup, driven in particular by stars like the Frenchmen Kylian Mbappé and Désiré Doué.

"Children are very involved" with the World Cup, explains Mr. Darby, 26, originally from Jamaica, stressing the importance of providing them with play areas.

"It's simply about giving children the opportunity to play and enjoy this sport properly," he said. "Seeing their progress, week after week, is a joy."