Match Brings O.C. Fans Together
The opening of the World Cup games Friday brought Orange County soccer fans together to celebrate in pubs, clubs, bars and homes everywhere.
As Germany and Bolivia battled it out on the field, more than 300 supporters of the teams gathered in opposite corners of Anaheim to watch the game on big-screen TVs, poised to spring from their seats whenever their team gained an edge.
At the Phoenix Club, a popular hangout for German Americans, about 250 fans enjoyed a feast that included beer and sauerkraut as they roared when Germany scored its first and only goal. The spacious hall filled with shouts of approval as the Mexican referee acknowledged the point.
Soccer is the national sport of Germany. There, every hamlet and village, no matter how small, has its own soccer team, said Hans Pietsch, 58, who immigrated to the United States in 1956.
“Fan” is too mild a word to describe Pietsch, a former professional player who now resides in Placentia with his family, which includes a 22-year-old son who graduated to basketball when he grew too tall for soccer.
“If people played soccer, there wouldn’t be war,” Pietsch said, as he stole anxious glances at the game.
The two groups of fans in Anaheim disagreed on which team should win, but they did agree on one thing: The United States would be a much better country had soccer been the nation’s pastime instead of baseball or football.
While the German fans watched on a 10-by-10-foot color screen, about 70 Bolivian fans squeezed into Verda’s Pizza Submarine Shop across town to watch on a 32-inch TV, which was accompanied by a Spanish radio announcer blaring a play-by-play in the background.
They shouted encouragements at their team and booed the referee who awarded Germany the score. It did not really matter, though, that Bolivia was losing. When the game ended, they danced to a popular Bolivian song, “Viva Mi Patria Bolivia,” which praises the country’s cherished team.
Bessie Jacobowitz, whose father is German, had no problems deciding who to root for. She swears allegiance to her home country, Bolivia.
“This is (Bolivia’s) first time in the World Cup, and we are proud of our people,” said Jacobowitz, who was visiting the Southland for the World Cup. “When I was a kid, every Sunday we went to the stadium and watched. All the months they play” soccer in Bolivia.
Soccer is an inexpensive sport that anyone can play, said Adolfo Ramos, 44, who is splurging on two tickets worth $636 for a match in Boston next week, when Bolivia faces South Korea.
“I was born kicking a ball,” Ramos said. “When you’re kids (in Bolivia), you stole your mother’s and sister’s nylons and rolled them into a ball.”
Although rivals for the day, neither the Germans nor the Bolivians had any harsh words for each other’s teams or countries.
“There’s always people better than you,” Pietsch said. “I’m a sportsman. If they win, (let it) be so.”
Germany won, 1-0.
Ramos, perturbed by his country’s defeat and what he called “unfair referees,” was not so understanding.
“Too bad the mistakes were worse against our country,” he said.
