LOS ANGELES — The way Brett Hochhalter figures it, he’s never going to get another chance to see a World Cup soccer game, so the exorbitant prices he paid for tickets and hotel rooms was worth every penny.

Hochhalter, a retired mailman and owner of a Pocatello construction company, took family friend Kristin Moses to see the Canada-South Africa “knockout round” contest at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on June 28. The Canadians scored a goal in the 91st minute of the contest to come away with a 1-0 victory and eliminate the South Africans from the tournament.

“You can’t put a dollar sign on something like this,” said Hochhalter, 61, who paid $3,000 a ticket to the game, and said hotel rooms were going for between $600 and $1,100 a night. “It’s never going to happen again. Both of us, Kristin and me, we’re going to be gone before there is another World Cup here again. Father Time don’t let anybody just hang out.”

Hochhalter and Moses joined 69,000 other fans at the game for a multi-cultural experience like no other. Nobody knew who would be playing in the game until June 25, and they were surrounded by South Korean soccer fans who purchased tickets in the hope that their country would be represented in the game. Alas, South Africa eliminated South Korea in group play on June 24.

The Canada-South Africa contest was a tense affair with neither team able to put the ball in the back of the net until Canada’s Stephen Eustaquio scored in stoppage time.

“It was a very exciting game,” said Moses, 41, who grew up in Pocatello but now lives in Kimberly. She’s a finance manager for Adventure Motor Sports in Twin Falls.

“The vibe is what we came for,” Moses said. “Brett grew up in Ecuador, so it was his sport, and I played soccer all my life.”

In addition to the game itself, Moses and Hochhalter enjoyed the pre-game tailgating festivities. “We got there early and made a lot of new friends,” she said. “It was a hoot.”

FIFA, the governing body of World Cup soccer, expanded the tournament this year to 48 teams and scheduled games throughout North America — in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Eleven different stadiums are hosting games. That gave folks like Moses and Hochhalter a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a World Cup match.

“Obviously it means something different to each (spectator),” said Moses. “It means something different to those of us who grew up around the sport. It’s a worldwide sport that everyone plays. There are small countries that we’ve never heard of who qualified to play in the World Cup. It’s a huge world-wide tournament that the whole world can connect with under one roof.”

The World Cup games have turned into a giant cultural melting pot that has brought together soccer fans from all over the world.

“We were sitting next to 100 different cultures,” said Moses. “We had people from so many different countries sitting next to us. We cheered together and became friends for the hours we were watching the games. The unity that it brought, it was awesome.”