Cheers and boos filled a packed beer hall in Northwest D.C. Sunday as soccer fans of England and Spain closely followed the early morning match, which kicked off at 6 a.m.
鈥淚鈥檓 still half asleep but the mimosa is helping,鈥� Spanish fan Isabel Martinez told 海角社区app at Franklin Hall.
She was surrounded by a whole bunch of Martinezes wearing the Spanish team鈥檚 red jersey. For the D.C.-area based family of Spanish heritage, Spain鈥檚 1-0 victory over England made for a great start to their Sunday.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty happy,鈥� said Isabel’s brother, Alfonso Martinez. 鈥淚 thought we played pretty well. I thought there was a couple of chances for a couple more goals. England had a couple of chances as well, but I thought we played better and we deserved to win.鈥�
This is the first time Spain has won the Women鈥檚 World Cup. It was also a historic match for England; it鈥檚 the first time the English women鈥檚 team has made it to the FIFA Women鈥檚 World Cup finals.
This video is no longer available.
The showdown was held in Stadium Australia. Both Australia and New Zealand hosted this year鈥檚 tournament, which meant games were broadcast in the middle of the night on the east coast.
Now that the World Cup is over, and England lost, Kit Evans, from London, told 海角社区app she was going to go home and cry, 鈥渁nd drink a lot of tea.鈥�
Still, Evans said the Lionesses getting to the final match was a win in its own way for her country.
鈥淲hat they鈥檝e done for girls鈥� and women鈥檚 football in England is incredible,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 now taken seriously.鈥�
Franklin Hall bartender Ben Prince said he鈥檚 not surprised so many people showed up at the crack of dawn, despite the home team getting booted earlier this month. The historically dominant American women鈥檚 team lost to Sweden 5-4 in the round of 16.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got a large soccer fan contingency in the D.C. area, they are always really supportive,鈥� Prince said. 鈥淚鈥檓 from Alabama and everything is college football there 鈥� Being up here it鈥檚 kind of cool for me to see something a little different.鈥�
As the bleary-eyed fans filed out of the beer hall, whether their team won or lost, they all had something to celebrate 鈥� getting back to a normal sleep schedule.
