Most soccer fans might call him spoiled, but Canadian John-Ryan Morrison can't help but feel disappointed as the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil kicks into gear.
Hampered by the cost of travel, the soccer coach and self-professed fanatic will miss attending the World Cup tournament for the first time in 16 years this summer.
"I'm getting older and apparently you have to do some things when you get older like buy houses," Morrison told CTV News Channel via Skype on Monday. “It’s an unfortunate part of getting older.”
The 33-year-old Fredericton, N.B. native has been in the stands for every World Cup tournament since his first one in France in 1998, when his father took him as a 17-year-old. In the past 16 years he's been to games in South Korea, Japan, Germany and South Africa, and has also traveled to European championship tournaments in Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Ukraine and Poland.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to see some pretty incredible games over the years,” he says.
Morrison even has a box of World Cup grass seed that he bought in Germany back in 2006. "I've lost 10 cell phones since then but I still have German grass seed," he writes in an Instagram post with a photo of the seeds.
But this year, the price tag to get to Brazil was simply too much. Morrison says he'd already purchased tickets for Brazil 2014, but expenses like travel and hotel accommodations brought the estimated cost up to nearly $9,000.
"It really hurts," he says. "Every time I run into somebody, the first question is, 'When do you go?'"
Morrison's current streak is broken, but he's determined to start a new one. He says he's already planning totravel to Russia for the 2018 World Cup.
Morrison's father, at least, will be in Sao Paulo, ensuring that the Morrison clan will be represented, even if John-Ryan can't be there.
