Tobias Warschewski was eight years old when the FIFA World Cup arrived on his doorstep.
Growing up in Dortmund, Germany, the Cavalry FC striker learned firsthand what it's like to live in a country hosting the world's biggest sporting event.
When Germany hosted the 2006 World Cup, Dortmund hosted six matches. The likes of Brazil, Japan and Sweden passed through the Westfalenstadion, as did the host nation — twice, including the semifinal against Italy where they bowed out of the tournament.
For a young Warschewski, that summer introduced him to the world's game.
"Everything in Germany was unbelievable," he told CPLsoccer.com. "I was, as a kid, seeing all the flags on cars, or everybody painting their face with Germany flags. It's just exciting to see how a country comes together for a sport like that, and it's pretty amazing. Everybody cheers for the same team, for your country. It's amazing to see."
Eight years after that, Warschewski saw his country win the World Cup. Mario Götze's extra-time goal in the 2014 final against Argentina brought Germany, and a 16-year-old Warschewski, to their feet once again
"The excitement there, crying tears for your country, it was amazing to see as a young soccer fan," he said.
Now, in 2026, Warschewski is experiencing the excitement of living in a World Cup host country once again.
Even in Calgary, he's seen the city plastered with flags and jerseys. Warschewski's brother is visiting him in Canada for the first time, and the pair watched the Canadian national team's 6-0 win over Qatar at a public viewing party in downtown Calgary.
"I see it here, I live downtown and see so many jerseys from different nations and how many people actually support soccer," he said. "It's amazing to see, and I think for Canada in general it's a big success so far."
The World Cup has also, so far, been a success for the German national team, who will play in Toronto on Saturday against Côte d'Ivoire.
After they beat Curaçao 7-1 in their opening match, Warschewski's expectations for Die Mannschaft are sky-high.
"For me it's a very exciting team," he said. "We have experienced players coming back with Manuel Neuer and Joshua Kimmich, you have this experience that wins you games in a way, and youngsters coming up and just producing magic."
"This German team is the best they've looked for a long time. They're working hard, they have the excitement in their game, they have game changers like [Jamal] Musiala, [Florian] Wirtz, even guys from the bench like Deniz Undav — in his first game he had three goal contributions. Every World Cup, like you saw in Spain against Cape Verde, it's not easy every time for these countries to get a result. Coming out like that, I'm pretty excited for how far they can go."
Warschewski will be watching eagerly when Germany take to the field in the country he now calls home.
After that, though, his focus has to turn back to his own football with Cavalry.
The Canadian Premier League side will resume play soon, and they have a massive Canadian Championship tie with the Vancouver Whitecaps around the corner in July.
That Whitecaps matchup will be extra special for Warschewski, who named Thomas Müller as his favourite German player of all time.
Müller, a member of the 2014 World Cup-winning team, will be on the pitch for the 'Caps when Cavalry play them at BC Place (the site of Canada's historic win on Thursday).
With that in mind, Warschewski has already warned his teammates not to compete with him for Müller's shirt.
"I'm asking before the game already," Warschewski said, laughing. "I told everybody already but there's a couple guys still fighting."
More importantly, Warschewski will hope to be the attacking talisman for Cavalry again when they square off with the MLS opponent.
They've beaten the Whitecaps before, but they'll have their work cut out for them trying to topple one of the top sides in MLS this time.
