USA v Czech Republic

There were so many questions about where to watch America: Do they actually care about football? Can it really be true that they don’t like alcohol and pubs? Will they all be watching the game at home sipping Tab Clear?

Fortunately my favourite Soho diner doubles as a sports venue: admittedly primarily for basketball, baseball, American football and ice hockey; but they were definitely showing the game and expecting a good turnout.

We got there with plenty of time to spare but it wasn’t looking good. Some sort of country rock was blasting out and it was more or less empty. But it started to fill up as kick-off approached, with a polite grown-up crowd.

The atmosphere remained calm and dignified as the game kicked off and it didn’t get any more atmospheric as the impressive Czechs helped themselves to a 2-0 lead, although there was some excitement when Claudio Reyna thumped a shot against the post.

My neighbour had also been expecting it to be busier. We wondered if people were still at work or maybe outside enjoying the sun, and he told me that other Americans were going to the nearby Sports Café for the game. He admitted that expectations weren’t high and I wondered if that was the main reason for the poor turnout.

“But there is quite a lot of support for the soccer team in America, isn’t there?” I asked him, “I mean not as much as…” “In Europe,” he added. I was going to say the big four American sports, but he made a good point.

We chatted about wunderkind Freddy Adu, who had failed to make the squad although the team were sorely lacking inspiration in one of the toughest groups. Then at half time I wished my neighbour luck in the second half (they were going to need it) and headed down to the Sports Café.

I had decided to try and avoid the Sports Café, thinking all nations might go there and preferring authentic country-specific venues; but it seemed fitting for America, and sure enough their fans outnumbered the Czechs.

The crowd was younger and more boisterous than it had been in the diner, but there still wasn’t much excitement, understandably since they were 2-0 down with Italy and Ghana still to play.

I still harboured the suspicion that they hadn’t quite grasped the finer details of the game – “25 minutes!” shouted one excitable youth when there were 15 minutes to go – and when excellent new Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky made it 3-0 I was glad I had chosen this match to watch the US. Because if they weren’t interested before this game, I suspected they would all be watching basketball instead of the Italy and Ghana games.

After drowning their sorrows with some refreshing Gatorade.