Time difference does soccer fans no favours, but establishments plan on showing some games
Ah, the 1990 World Cup, Ireland unbeaten through four games despite having scored just two goals.
The Emerald Isle eventually met its match and lost 1-0 to Italy in the quarterfinal. The Republic of Ireland would appear in two more Cups, always advancing past the group stage, but, alas, hasn’t made an appearance since 2002.
Denmark eliminated Ireland for the 2018 Cup during qualifying.
No matter. Doolin’s Irish Pub on Granville Street will welcome the world’s soccer fans, at least for 11 a.m. games. The 32-team tournament starts today.
“We’re an Irish bar, but we’ll open our doors to everybody,” Doolin’s events and marketing co-ordinator James Young said. “I’m English, our staff represent a real smattering of countries — Nicaragua, Korea, Latin America, elsewhere.”
The first game the pub will telecast is Friday’s 11 a.m. Spain-Portugal match.
“We expect quite a large crowd for that,” Young said. “And for the England games. The 11 a.m. games we’ll make part of our lunch program.”
Pubs such as Doolin’s are used to hosting an assortment of fans of different nationalities before Vancouver Whitecaps games, international CONCACAF matches hosted by Canada’s men’s team and the 2015 women’s Cup, which played its final at B.C. Place Stadium.
Doolin’s liquor licence allows them to start serving booze and beer at 9 a.m. at the earliest, but they ’ll open their doors at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 15, for the Cup final.
Cup games, held in Russia this year, will start between 5 and 11 a.m. Pacific Time during the group stage. Round-of-16 matches and quarter-finals begin at 7 and 11 a.m., the semifinals on July 10 and 11 at 11 a.m.
It’s fairly easy to join the estimated 3.2 billion worldwide who will watch at least part of the event on television. TSN will broadcast all 64 matches, starting at 8 a.m. today with a match between host Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Iceland, which has a population of about 330,000 — 40,000 fewer people than live in Metro Victoria — will be a cuddly underdog to root for. But despite there being three Scandinavian teams in the Cup (Iceland, Denmark and Sweden), the Scandinavian Community Centre in Burnaby will not be showing games because of indifference among younger members, a spokesman said, noting the games are during working hours.
Viewing venues range from the quaint to the obvious (sports bars).
The Danish Lutheran Church in Burnaby, for example, will stream Denmark’s games downstairs and in the parking lot.
The British Ex Servicemen’s Association on Kingsway will show England’s two 11 a.m. group-stage games, as well as other teams of note (opening at 10 a.m. for coffee or fruit juice until the club’s 11 a.m. liquor licence kicks in).
And for the 8 a.m. Cup final on July 15, the Ex Servicemen’s will open at 7 and serve breakfast.
The Portuguese Club of Vancouver is already fully booked for Friday’s huge match against Spain at 11 a.m.
The club will be showing Portugal’s 5 a.m. match against Morocco on June 20. Their final group game is against Iran on June 25.