Despite early start time, fans flock together for U.S.-Wales match

Nov. 22—Mike Canning thought it would be good to watch the U.S.-Wales World Cup match Monday away from home.

So, he made the five-minute walk to Boxcar Bar and Grill. Much to his surprise, Canning found only one available seat.

"I thought I could walk in and get a seat anywhere," said Canning, a retired resident. "Being a work day, I think all these people are skipping work."

Monday normally signals the start of the work week, even with Thanksgiving on the horizon, but plenty of people took long lunch breaks — if not the entire day — to catch some World Cup action in the middle of the day.

With the World Cup almost half the world away in Qatar, most of the matches for the most prestigious sporting events in the world will be televised live throughout the morning. The U.S.-Wales match capped the first day of wall-to-wall soccer, and the noon start gave fans a chance to watch at a more appropriate time.

Fans flocked to bars and restaurants that showed the match, with many others opting to watch at home, on their smartphones or on a work desktop.

At Santa Fe High, Demons head boys soccer coach Chris Eadie opened his human geography and psychology classroom during lunch time to students for part of the first half before they had to go to their next class.

He estimated about 60 students showed up in the room at some point during the lunch break.

"That was really good for a Monday in the middle of the day," Eadie said. "I'm glad there were big crowds. I think it shows there is more interest now in soccer than there was before."

And it wasn't just in Santa Fe. JC's New York Pizza Department in Las Vegas, N.M., had more than a dozen customers watching the match. Matthew Probst, who works at El Centro Family Health, said the group consisted of mostly Las Vegas Robertson boys and girls players, but it was exciting to see the interest in soccer grow in the town.

"When the first goal got scored it felt like The Pit," Probst said. "I don't think the people who worked there were expecting that. Maybe for Monday Night Football."

The city of Albuquerque held a watch party at Civic Plaza and plan on hosting additional watch parties throughout the World Cup.

To that end, there will be a watch party for Friday's match between the U.S. and England at the Railyard plaza. Organized by Rio Rapids Northern Soccer club, the Santa Fe Adult Soccer League and Second Street Brewery, the event will have food trucks and a big-screen TV plus items from the New Mexico United to give away to spectators.

But many soccer diehards said Monday was an impressive showing by soccer fans, regardless of their interest in the sport outside the World Cup.

Rennae Ross, an instructor at Santa Fe Prep and president of the New Mexico Youth Soccer Association, was a part of a standing-room only crowd at Boxcar for the match. She said seeing large crowds for a pool-play match shows that Americans are more invested in the World Cup than they ever were before.

"It's so nice that it's happening now — the first game of pool play," Ross said.

The timing of the World Cup — in mid-November as opposed to the summertime — is another big factor in the change in interest in the U.S.

Usually, the event only competes with Major League Baseball during the summer. In this case, football and basketball are in full swing as the World Cup began.

Sylwia Handzel, co-owner of Boxcar, said she and her staff prepared for the World Cup by opening at 9 a.m. instead of 11 a.m. She said there were quite a few people who showed up for the morning match between the Netherlands and Senegal.

She expects a big crowd for Tuesday's Mexico-Poland matchup at 9 a.m. When the knockout stage of the tournament begins in two weeks, the bar will open at 8 a.m. for those matches.

"We're asking a little more of our staff, but they were anticipating it," Handzel said. "We haven't had the USA in a World Cup in eight years. That's a big deal — and understated deal. This is where your soccerheads come out of the woodwork. We're a sports bar all the time, but every four years is a magical time where we have soccer and World Cup enthusiasm."

Luis Lozoya, a wine and spirits sales consultant who played for Monte del Sol in the early 2010s, said it is clear that soccer is developing a larger interest in Santa Fe. He said more bars and restaurants are catering to those fans by opening earlier during the international season.

"The Champions League final, places were open," Lozoya said. "They're announcing it. The sport has grown tremendously. These many people have been asking for it."

Roger Ivens, an actor who played the part of a helicopter sniper in the TV series Stranger Things, said he was worried about watching soccer when he moved from New Orleans to Santa Fe. Seeing the bar at full capacity allayed those fears.

"This is a really good show, especially for Santa Fe," Ivens said. "It's not really known for having lots of sports bars."

While the 1-all tie was met with disappointment by many fans, it didn't dampen the enthusiasm for the rest of the World Cup.

Canning said he might go to the watch party or return to the bar to watch Friday's match — and he'll be ready to show up early.

"England's going to be real tough, but anything can happen," Canning said.