World Cup excitement is sweeping across the Bay Area as fans, businesses and local venues prepare for Team USA’s Round of 32 knockout match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday at Levi’s Stadium.<\/p>\n
World Cup excitement is sweeping across the Bay Area as fans, businesses and local venues prepare for Team USA’s Round of 32 knockout match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday at Levi’s Stadium.<\/p>\n
Thousands of soccer fans have traveled to the region for the FIFA World Cup, with many hoping to see the United States advance in one of the most anticipated matches ever played in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n
“I’m nervous. a tough game for sure. They’ll prevail though,” said Peter Chapman, a Long Beach resident who traveled to attend the match.<\/p>\n
Chapman said he has followed Team USA throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been to all games in the U.S. — two at SoFi, 1 in Seattle, and this one here. So, I’m pumped,” he said.<\/p>\n
Fans gathered Tuesday at venues across San Jose, including San Pedro Square, where matches were shown on a large screen.<\/p>\n
EJ Cruz of Union City attended with his wife and children and said his focus is already on Wednesday’s game.<\/p>\n
“Team USA tomorrow. We’re ready!” Cruz said.<\/p>\n
Matthew Schnell traveled from Boston for the opportunity to watch the U.S. national team compete in the World Cup.<\/p>\n
“Every four years, you watch and you’re like, oh my God I’m going!'” Schnell said.<\/p>\n
“I got the tickets — round of 32 in the USA supporter section,” he added.<\/p>\n
Schnell said the trip included an unexpected encounter with one of the team’s players.<\/p>\n
“I said ‘hey, let’s get it done tomorrow’ and he gave me a fist bump!” Schnell said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Team USA trained at PayPal Park before Wednesday’s win-or-go-home matchup.<\/p>\n
“Tomorrow is going to be a very tough battle for us,” said U.S. Men’s National Team forward Christian Pulisic. “Just believe in our team and give it everything we have. We’re going to lay it all on the line.”<\/p>\n
Local businesses are also preparing for a surge of fans.<\/p>\n
At Jack’s Bar on East Taylor Street in San Jose, manager Jordan Trigg said the establishment dramatically increased its inventory for the event.<\/p>\n
“We brought over 30 kegs just for today and tomorrow,” Trigg said.<\/p>\n
The bar typically brings in about 10 kegs per week. Additional supplies were still being delivered Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to put a few more kegs in here too,” Trigg said.<\/p>\n
Jack’s Bar, the official American Outlaws bar in San Jose, expects fans from across the country to gather there before heading to the stadium.<\/p>\n
“That’s all anyone is talking about right now,” Trigg said.<\/p>\n
The bar also plans transportation for supporters on match day.<\/p>\n
“We will have four shuttle buses leaving Jacks, going to Levi’s, draping them off at AO tailgate and fans will march into the stadium,” Trigg said.<\/p>\n
The enthusiasm extends beyond bars and watch parties.<\/p>\n
“It’s like the craziest thing. We got to win it. We got to win it tomorrow baby. Let’s go!” Cruz said.<\/p>\n
The buildup continued Tuesday evening at Clara’s Junction in San Jose, where organizers scheduled a “Night Before the Party” event featuring live music and appearances by surprise U.S. soccer alumni ahead of Wednesday’s match.<\/p>\n
Organizers also said RSVPs are now required for all Round of 32 watch parties at San Pedro Square.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Cup excitement is sweeping across the Bay Area as fans, businesses and local venues prepare for Team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[145909,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-382965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-145909","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}