Be Wowwed by The World Cup

Image by Vironevaeh via Flickr

I’ll confess up front that I am not much of a soccer or “football” fan myself, but more a fan of the American style of football, the NFL. That being said, it’s easy enough to enjoy a game here or there over a beer in your favorite establishment over some tasty food or a couple of drinks.

I caught the U.S. vs. England game in a local pub, and I have to admit, it was a blast. It was very easy to get swept up in the good-natured trash talking even when I had so little knowledge of the game, players, and sport. It’s my team, right? They represent me! Of course I’m going to cheer them on and support them!

There were plenty of England fans there in the pub. An English pub will have these from time to time, I am told, and my, oh my, were they celebrating with their score. The U.S. was all finished, and might as well have run home with their tail behind their legs! I laughed with all of them. For all I knew at that point, they might as well have been right.

Things changed quickly when the U.S. scored to tie it up. If the cheers that had erupted for England were loud, the cheers for the U.S. were riotous. Suddenly, it was a real game, but everyone said that England would come back – but they never managed to do that.

As I left that afternoon with a grin on my face, I found myself wondering how I could have ever not enjoyed this before. It was good fun!

Over the days since then, I have watched as the other countries have played, eying this upcoming Friday as my next chance to root for my team, but it dawned on me on the way home the other night that there were large contingents here in the U.S. of almost every nationality.

Surely those groups are rooting their own [former] countries on in their little corners right here in the U.S. The fans rooting for England last weekend were largely NOT former Brits, of course, but even so, the equivalent of the English pub must exist for many more groups, and that got me to thinking and researching it a bit.

Sure enough, I think you’d be amazed at what you could find out there to make a game that you might not otherwise care about quite exciting. If I thought the English supporters in an English pub were exuberant, I had no idea what the truly supportive fans were like.

Most major cities will have niches carved out for various nationalities, and I definitely advise checking some of them out for some REAL soccer (okay, just for this time of the year, I’ll call it football) fun.

Just some quick ideas:

Finding a corner bar in a largely Mexican neighborhood for the Mexico vs. France game on June 17th will probably leave you deaf at some point.

Does your city have a “Greektown” like mine does? Either get over there and join in with them cheering vs. Nigeria on June 17th, or stay far, far away.

Little Italy? Forgetaboutit. I’m told the bars were packed and the food came at a crawl everywhere you went on June 14th when they played Paraguay. Expect a repeat on the 20th vs. New Zealand.  

Granted, you might have more trouble finding a German bar or restaurant, but I assure you that they are out there, and you can bet your booties they’ll be lively when Germany takes on Serbia on the 18th.

Take a look around and see what’s out there in your area, and take a chance on something fun and new. The concept has certainly opened my own eyes to the possibilities.