As its World Cup year I thought I'd tell a little story from the competition back in 2006 when I was in America for the final.
I'd watched England go out to Portugal in a earlier round while I was in St Louis when Loony Rooney got sent off because of a cheating Winker but was in Chicago for the final.
I had decided to watch Italy versus France in my favorite Irish Pub "Fado".
As a soccer fan I just can't be neutral so I decided I was going to support Italy in the final and thought it would not be right to wear my England shirt. So when I got up in the morning I choose rather than wear a National shirt I would wear my Club colours the uniform of the mighty whites.
Now kick off was not while 1pm Chicago time so I decided to go for a walk up Michigan Avenue for some last minute shopping (well coffee and cake) during the morning and make my way to Fado's for about 12noon. To my amazement for the first time in the US I was seeing as many Soccer Shirts as Baseball shirts (even more surprising was that the White Sox were entertaining Boston Red Sox that day).
Eventually I made my way to Fado's and when I got there I was shocked there was a line of people 50metres long waiting to get in. As I made my way to the back of the queue assuming they were waiting to open I remember passing a group wearing them Red (Manchester) shirts who seemed to glare at my White Gods top (we never did get on with them from over the hills) I was also surprised at the number of French supporters waving their flags.
Once in the queue it became apparent that it wasn't moving very quick so a girl in front of me went to find out what the problem was. She came back and said the pub was packed and it was one out one in. Now I realised most people will be in the pub to watch the final so wouldn't be moving so we had no chance, Fado's was closed due to crowd congestion.
So I moved on to "Rock Bottom" one block away to find the same problem a great long line of people trying to get in to watch the match.
I moved south a couple of blocks where I knew a sports bar "Mother Hubbards", now this is a baseball bar so I had my doubts. However they do have a lot of televisions and I thought they may show the match on one of the smaller screens, you can only ask.
When I opened the door I was amazed it was packed, the soccer was on, Italian and French flags (plus others) were everywhere. Luckily there was a spare seat at the bar and I ended up next to another Englishman from Oxford (not everyones perfect).
The atmosphere throughout the match was fantastic with a mix of all nationalities including many Americans totally absorbed.
The staff who were not expecting this turned out worked their socks off keeping everyone supplied with food and drink (they were totally undermanned), extra time and penalties must have killed them. The girl working the bar on her own was smashing still managing a smile despite running around like an headless chicken, Baseball was never like this.
Anyway the match is now history with Italy winning the shoot out and Zidane becoming the first uniformed Frenchman to win a fight since Napolean with his stupid headbut, what a idiot, must be related to Rooney I remember thinking.
From what I saw America is slowly starting to realise this is the world game and a sporting nation like them needs to get serious about it (3 billlion people world wide can't be wrong). Lets face it playing a World series against yourself is a Joke.
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