Soccer Commands Action on Local TV Screens During World-Famous Tournament
Trevor Phipps
The world-famous FIFA World Cup Tournament, which made its way to Northern America this year, brought with it an influx of fans as well as a new appreciation for soccer across the country.
Whoever thought soccer would overtake the United States.
Predictions, though, were high at the outset from a tourism standpoint, since the United States was the host country.
Before the tournament started, many sports buffs were saying that the event would bring in many international travelers, wanting to watch their favorite teams in various cities across the country.
Ahead of the tournament, even tourist experts in the Pikes Peak region speculated that the area could see an increase in international tourism. Even though there weren’t any World Cup matches played in a city inside Colorado, some expected that tourists would travel across the country while they were here.
And it turned out that many fans did travel around. The internet is filled with stories of World Cup fans from other countries finding friendly people and other things that can only be found within the U.S.A
Instead of staying in the cities and watching matches live, some of the fans chose to tour around America. There was one story in which some foreign fans found comfort in a café in small town Alabama, where they felt so welcomed they didn’t even want to leave.
Locally, many watering holes have also experienced an increase in soccer fans frequenting their establishment to watch a game. Instead of attending a live match, many opted to tour the small towns in America and watch their favorite teams on a big screen while enjoying a cold beverage on a hot day.
During the summer months in Colorado and America as a whole, the main sport to enjoy is baseball. Whereas baseball has a strong following, locally it doesn’t bring too many fans out to a bar or restaurant to watch a game on TV. It seems like most people in Colorado would rather watch the Colorado Rockies lose live at Coors Field than on the TV.
But as tourism was slated to be down this year due to a decrease in foreign travelers and high gas prices, the World Cup may have given some businesses a much-needed boost. And since the World Cup matches happened throughout the day and early night, local saloons saw business from sports fans during times where they normally would not get much activity.
I personally saw many people come into bars at random times (early in the day and later at night) to enjoy a World Cup soccer match all across Teller County and even in Deckers. Some from other countries have come into bars in groups to cheer on their home team. Others (many who are Americans) have been seen staying at a bar for hours to tune into the latest World Cup action.
Despite the increase in foreign sports fans infiltrating local water holes, locals and Americans in general have seemed to find a new passion for the sport, even if they don’t quite understand the various nuances of soccer.
Many soccer fans have surfaced across the state, wearing their favorite team’s attire. Many Americans even seem to be cheering on teams from other countries. And now that the USA’s team has been eliminated, expect fans to continue cheering on soccer teams from other countries.
The Elimination of Team USA
Now, the bad news.
USA may not have emerged as the team cheered for the most by international fans. Still, the home country of this year’s World Cup soccer team matches did bring out a crowd every time they played. Even those who aren’t huge soccer fans showed that they would pay attention and watch the games when it came to a USA match.
For those of you who aren’t big soccer fans. USA did play well and had a decent run in the tournament, making it to the final 16 stage.
However, they were eliminated on July 6 when they fell to Belgium 4-1 with their defense experiencing a total meltdown at times. And quite honestly, they were only able to get few valid shots at the Belgium goal in the second half.
It was ugly, and the bar buffs at some of our watering holes had to order an extra drink or more to tend to recover from this devastating loss.
USA did start the World Cup Tourney with two wins in a row. They beat Paraguay in their Group D 4-1 on June 12. Then in further Group D action, USA conquered Australia 2-0.
USA then fell to Turkey 3-2 right before the single elimination tournament began. However, this particular game didn’t impact their overall standing. Due to the fact that they recorded a 2-1 record in Group D matches, USA moved into the Round of 32 single elimination tournament.
To start the championship round of 32, USA was paired against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The team made it through the elimination of the first 16 teams after overcoming their Round of 32 opponent 2-0, in a contest that weren’t expected to win.
This win really bolstered their confidence and captured the fancy of many sports buffs across the land, who really weren’t soccer fans.
But then competition got extra touch once USA entered the round of 16. USA was matched up against Belgium who proved to be an all-around better team. This 4-1 clobbering hurt as some insiders predicted USA would win, then falter for the next game against an opponent like France.
But that won’t happen.
Now some may be disappointed that probably the two most popular World Cup teams in the country (USA and Mexico) have been eliminated from competition. But there are still other teams in it, and England and France seem to be favorites.
However, the quarterfinals of the World Cup ended last Saturday and the results were not in come press time to determine who will make it to the final matches. The semifinals take place this Tuesday and Wednesday. The World Cup Finals are then slated for this Sunday at 1 p.m.
