Sports Bar Soccer Fans in O.C. Cheer Favorites : Enthusiasm: Despite the pandemonium, most agree that the heated rivalry was good-natured.

The World Cup Soccer championship was fought with passion and verve over buffalo wings and beer at a local watering hole Sunday.

When it was over, some fans were hanging their heads in apparent despair while others were dancing on the tables.

“I feel vivacious, man!” Waldir DaCosta, 36, a Brazilian immigrant who’s lived in Costa Mesa for 11 years, said excitedly after watching his team eke out a 3-2 victory over the Italians in a game that went into overtime and was finally decided on penalty kicks. “I’ve been waiting for this day; that’s my Brazil.”

But Ron DeViso, 28, also of Costa Mesa, saw things differently. DeViso, who claims Italian descent, had promised victory as a birthday present to his 31-year-old fiancee, Stacy Harter.

“I feel awful,” he said, holding his head as if in pain. “I’m kind of depressed, to put it mildly.”

Both fans were among the estimated 400 soccer enthusiasts who turned out at Legends Sports Bar on Sunday to watch the World Cup’s final game on 28 television screens. The crowd was about the same size as that usually watching the Super Bowl, but a lot more lively, manager Eileen Derham said.

“We’ve got some pretty boisterous people here,” she said of the standing-room-only crowd, which seemed to erupt into pandemonium at every near-goal, save or forceful play by anyone on the field. “This is great. I love it. We’re doing very well.”

Many of the fans said they or their ancestors had come from countries where soccer has long been a national sport.

“We’re European, so we’re rooting for Italy,” said Helen Fletcher, 23, who moved to Orange County two years ago from England to work as a nanny. “I love this; it reminds me of home. We’re all soccer bums over there.”

Joe Prado, describing himself as an Orange County resident of Latino descent, said he felt strongly enough about the Brazilian team to have bet $350 on its victory. “This is a blast,” he said. “There’s no sporting event in the world like this; it’s the best.”

And Stuart Timms, another fan from England, said that he had bet $200 on the Brazilian team simply to spite his friends. “They’re all going for Italy,” said Timms, 24, a carpenter who now lives in Newport Beach. “I wanted to go against them to get an atmosphere going.”

Most agreed on Sunday afternoon that the atmosphere was definitely going .

As tables of fans bellowed soccer chants, others frantically waved Brazilian or Italian flags. They stood on tables or sat in the aisles. They hugged each other and gleefully swigged their beers. And whenever something exciting happened on the screen, the roar was almost deafening.

Despite the ruckus, though, most fans agreed that the competition was good-natured and ultimately unifying.

“This is the only sport that brings the world together,” Timms said.

Said Prado: “You sing your heart out and it takes you away from your problems.”

Many said they had come fairly recently to the sport, drawn by the fact that the World Cup games were taking place in Pasadena, with the winning Brazilian team staying at the nearby Fullerton Marriott Hotel.

“I’m not a sports fan,” said Rhonda Seiter of Huntington Beach. “You have to pull my leg to go to a sporting event; I think baseball and football are too slow.”

But after watching a few World Cup games, the 33-year-old travel agent said she became hooked. “It’s a fun game,” she said. “I wanted to go to the stadium, but it cost $800, so this was the next best thing.”

Jeff Kearns, a 27-year-old mortgage banker from Woodland Hills, said he viewed the phenomenon as much a cultural as a sporting event.

“I couldn’t call myself a fan,” he said, “but this is the World Cup. I’m enjoying the way the crowd is getting into it; you don’t see this kind of enthusiasm in American professional sports.”

He paused a moment before offering his final thought.

“I don’t think half the people here give a hoot who wins,” observed Kearns, describing himself as an Irishman rooting for the Italians. “I think they’re just getting into the nationalism of it.”