Patrick Silvey typically needs to get an early start to catch his favorite sport and player in action.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Silvey found himself at Hat Trick Brewing in Spokane\u2019s West Central Neighborhood just after 7 a.m. to watch Liverpool FC face Crystal Palace FC in a match played nearly 4,500 miles away in northwest England.<\/p>\n
The two teams are in a tight race for fourth place in the English Premier League, the last spot that guarantees a berth to the UEFA Champions League \u2013 the highest competition in European club soccer. Spirits were high for Silvey and the roughly 10 other patrons who gathered to watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a sports nerd,\u201d Silvey said. \u201cBig soccer guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Coons, who co-owns and operates Hat Trick with Remington Oatman, said he was inspired to open the bar after noticing how few options international soccer fans like Silvey have in Spokane to watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to have multiple places I could go to watch games and all that stuff, bars would open up early,\u201d said Coons, who moved to Spokane from San Diego. \u201cAnd when I moved up here, there was really nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Coons said Saturday mornings aren\u2019t \u201csuper busy,\u201d matches that begin at 8:30 a.m. Sunday typically draw a larger crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where we\u2019re here for whoever wants to come in and hang out,\u201d Coons said. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to reinvent the wheel or take over the world. We like to watch soccer, and we decided to have a place where anybody can come by.\u201d<\/p>\n
The match on Saturday provided a glimpse of what\u2019s to come during the 2026 World Cup, which will be played throughout North America between June 11 and July 19. Liverpool and Palace feature a combined 17 players who have already made their respective home countries\u2019 national teams, with several other players still vying for spots.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah who has gotten the most attention. Salah will stay in the Spokane basecamp in between the Egyptian National Team\u2019s matches in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving Egypt in town. Just having a country stay in Spokane is really cool,\u201d Coons said. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silvey struggled to describe the significance of Salah in international soccer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tom Cruise of Egypt,\u201d Silvey said.<\/p>\n
Silvey has seen the star Egyptian forward play in person only once. He couldn\u2019t have picked a much better time than the March 17, 2018, match between Liverpool and Watford FC. Salah scored four times in a 5-0 win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was pretty special,\u201d Silvey said. \u201cThe only Liverpool game I\u2019ve ever been to, Mo Salah scored four goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Liverpool won Saturday 3-1, the game did provide an injury scare that could linger into the World Cup.<\/p>\n
In the game\u2019s 58th minute, Salah fell to the pitch and clutched his hamstring. The Egyptian superstar was subbed out of the game and will not play in Liverpool\u2019s match on Sunday. Egypt national team director Ibrahim Hassan told Reuters on Saturday that Salah has a hamstring tear, an injury that will sideline him for three to four weeks and could end his career in Liverpool, as he and the club he\u2019s starred at for nearly a decade have been on rocky terms.<\/p>\n
Although injury will likely knock Salah out for the remainder of Liverpool\u2019s season, there is optimism that he could return in time for Egypt\u2019s first World Cup match on June 15 at Lumen Field in Seattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the best players ever in Liverpool history,\u201d Coons said shortly after Salah walked off the pitch.<\/p>\n
Martin Worsdall, a lifelong fan of Palace who was raised in the outskirts of London, has tickets to the Round of 32 and Round of 16 World Cup matches that will be played in Seattle. Rather than paying for a hotel, Worsdall will pay to park a camper van in a driveway at a house that he was told was within walking distance of Lumen Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much cheaper than getting accommodation,\u201d Worsdall said. \u201cAnd even parking is so expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coons said he isn\u2019t sure what impact the upcoming World Cup matches will have on his business, but he\u2019s excited for the tournament and will air every one of the 104 matches. After the four previous tournaments were held in South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar, Coon said he\u2019s also excited that the action will take place in North American time zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really excited for the World Cup; it\u2019s going to be huge for Spokane. I think in general, there are a lot of soccer fans, especially with the Zephyr and Velocity,\u201d Coons said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patrick Silvey typically needs to get an early start to catch his favorite sport and player in action.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-631288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}