World Cup Watch Party
Vaughan’s Irish Public House
Hartford
July 6, 2026
A controversial red card. An unprecedented reversal. And the hopes of an entire nation riding on 11 men playing the beautiful game.
Suffice to say, tensions were high inside of Vaughan’s Public House Monday evening, as the U.S. national team squared off against Belgium in the Round of 16 in the 2026 World Cup.
It didn’t help that by the time I arrived, Belgium had already scored their first goal in the ninth minute of the contest. I figured I’d arrive about 15 minutes into the game, when the bar was packed and the crowd was roaring. That’s the danger and beauty of soccer: you never know when a goal is going to occur.
This year is my first watching the World Cup, or any professional soccer for that matter. I’ve become enthralled with the game over the last month, and caught as many games as I could. All of the complaints that people like me used to make about the game – the slow pace, the low score, offsides – became strengths of the game the more I watched.
There’s a clear strategy to playing the game. Players aren’t just chasing the ball willy nilly around the field (the one time I saw that happen, the defending team almost gave up a goal), and goals have a rhythm to them. Yes, those quick strikes do happen. But more often, goals take on a kind of inevitability, as offensive pressure turns into corner kicks, crosses, free kicks and, if the team is really good, a penalty kick.
So I missed the first goal by Belgium, but I was ready as I watched USA’s own Malik Tillman line up his free kick a few meters outside of the penalty box in the 31st minute. The crowd was chanting, banging on tables and drums. Necks craned around, trying to get a glimpse of the TV screen. The whistle blew. The kick was up, sailing over the heads of the defending Belgium players, and right into the back of the net.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!
It looked like the U.S. had a chance to compete with Belgium…for exactly two minutes. Charles De Ketelaere, the man who scored Belgin’s first goal, sealed the game in the 33rd minute with a brilliant header on a cross from Leandro Trossard. The crowd fell silent, and remained that way for the rest of the game as Belgium scorched the US, 4-1. The dream was dead.
Or perhaps not, because even though the U.S. was trounced by the team that came in 3rd in the World Cup in 2018, everyone at the party was having a blast. I spoke to three teenagers, Nate, Cam and Bryson, who were holding an American flag in the back of the bar about what they loved about the World Cup, and none of them mentioned soccer itself.
“I love the atmosphere and how the world comes together,” Nate said. “You don’t get to experience watch parties like this very often. And it happening during America’s 250th anniversary is the icing on the cake.” Bryson likened it to the Olympics, where everyone stops what they're doing for a moment to root together for the nation.
Cam remains a soccer skeptic, admitting that he prefers hockey and only came out to be with his friends. “But I’m here,” he said, “And I’m rooting for team USA.”
Team USA may have lost, but for those two minutes in the first half, everyone in Vaughan’s, and perhaps every American, was united in a moment of hope that the impossible might become possible. That’s a win in its own right.
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Jamil goes to check out a concert at the Old State House.
