The late-afternoon sunshine had brought cyclists and joggers to the banks of the Petitcodiac River but the tracksuited Mexico players, out for a squad stroll, attracted few second glances as they examined its chocolate-brown tidal waters. A few yards away a small group of men, women and children sat quietly on folding chairs while the giant screen in front of them relayed live coverage of Germany 10 Ivory Coast 0 from Ottawa.

As the goals flew in several younger family members were enjoying a gentle kickabout on a mini football pitch installed across the cycleway as part of a newly established Fifa FanZone. With assorted brightly coloured international flags flapping in the breeze and a local band playing soft-rock covers, the atmosphere was happy and relaxed. It would, however, have been a gross exaggeration to claim World Cup fever was in the air.

Two days later the weather had turned wet and windy to help dash hopes of filling Moncton Stadium – normally an athletics venue – to its 13,000 capacity. Those who stayed away did not miss much while an at-times slightly bored-looking France were beating an England side much better off the ball than on it 1-0. Happily things picked up later and the absentees missed a treat in the highly entertaining 1-1 draw between Mexico and Colombia.

The reporter from Canada’s Globe and Mail summed up the situation in Moncton rather well. “On day four of this World Cup we saw women’s soccer at its best and dreariest,” he wrote. “Are the locals paying attention? Some of them. In a subdued sort of way.” The next morning The Times and Transcript, Moncton’s paper, offered a partial explanation for the disappointing crowd. “World Cup park and ride overwhelmed” declared its front page.

Yet if unexpected queues for the free stadium shuttle service had succeeded in trumping rivals’ stories including “Greenland Harvest Threatens Atlantic Salmon” and “Crosswalk Light Broken at Scene of Fatal Collision”, the football itself is still to capture the region’s imagination properly. Hosting World Cup games may be a big deal for the hoteliers, restaurateurs and taxi drivers in this small city near the Atlantic coast but the overall sense is that the disarmingly friendly and unfailingly courteous locals are only mildly interested in Canada 2015.

Not that this charming corner of New Brunswick should be regarded as a microcosm of a country almost the size of Europe staging games in cities spanning five of its six time zones. Unlike Moncton, other host cities have leading female football sides, sometimes rivalling their ice hockey equivalents in popularity. And significantly, unlike Moncton, other venues are multi-ethnic.

After all, 53,000 – a record crowd for women’s football in Canada – turned out in Edmonton to see the hosts beat China 1-0 in the tournament’s curtain-raiser. Sweden’s thrilling 3-3 “group of death” draw with Nigeria and the USA’s 3-1 defeat of Australia were sufficiently engaging to suggest this is an event capable of drawing even the initially indifferent into its web.

Bar Camille Abily’s unpunished elbow, jabbed painfully into Laura Bassett’s cheek during France v England, the tournament has so far proved refreshingly free of diving, cheating, time wasting, referee haranguing, injury feigning and much of the gamesmanship that regular watchers of the men’s game take, reluctantly, for granted.

With female football still taking baby steps towards full professionalism, the sport retains a certain innocence long absent from its male equivalent.

It is no coincidence the word “purity” keeps cropping up in tournament coverage. “Women’s football is very pure,” says Victor Montagliani, president of Canada Soccer. “It can shine a light on the dark clouds hanging over the wider game.”

To date some 920,000 match tickets have been sold, meaning Canada 2015 is well on course to exceed the 1.2m record total registered during USA 1999. Much may hinge on how far the host nation – ably coached by the Consett-born John Herdman – progress.

Damon Holowchak, director of a Vancouver pub chain, is convinced Herdman’s tactics will play a key role in determining this month’s profit margins. He does not expect “extraordinary business” unless Canada shine.

“If Canada go deep it will [boost profits], a bit like the Canucks going deep into the NHL play-offs,” Holowchak says. “People will want to get out and watch the games – and this country will throw a party.”

Whatever happens, high-calibre fixtures beckon once the knockout stages begin. If certain group matches appear a little underwhelming, the expansion of these finals to 24 teams means eight sides are making their World Cup debuts, with some one-sided encounters an inevitable byproduct. Excellent as Germany undoubtedly are, Ivory Coast had played only one game in the eight months before their thrashing.

If the blame for such imbalances can be laid at Sepp Blatter’s door, do not expect to see too many of his old gang in the roped-off VVIP stadium seats. Well before the Zurich arrests the ruling body decreed mere bog-standard VIP positions were not good enough for its dignitaries. But with FBI officers waiting to pounce from across the US border, some of those “Very Very Important People” may well bodyswerve Canada 2015.