Fran Harrington remembers exactly where he was on Oct. 10 last year.
Harrington, the treasurer of the Boston chapter of American Outlaws, a nationwide U.S. soccer fan group, had gathered with over 50 other fans at The Banshee, a Dorchester pub known as a hub for soccer crazies.
They were there to watch the U.S. men’s team play Trinidad and Tobago for a spot in the World Cup.
The game was supposed to be a sure shot. Instead, it turned into a nightmare as the U.S. let the game slip away in one of the biggest upsets in recent soccer history.
“It was odd when it started to all sink in at the end and I realized ”Oh my God, there’s a chance that we’re not going to make it,“ Harrington said. ”I remember a lot of people closing out their checks and not saying a word, not giving the usual goodbyes to the people that you see at every soccer game ... Yeah, maybe the most depressed I’ve seen a group of soccer fans in my entire life.“
Now, for the first time in over 30 years, U.S. fans find themselves in a position they’re not used to being in: watching the men’s World Cup longingly from the sidelines.
For some, they’re rooting for their ancestral homelands.
For Kate Lena, another member of the American Outlaws, that’s Argentina, where her father is from. Rooting for the Argentine’s in their first game against Iceland helped to make up for not having the U.S.
”I was on the edge of my seat, not breathing at moments and feeling like a heart attack was about to come on. So I’m still following it pretty closely,“ she said. ”Just, yeah, [it’s] definitely a little different because the U.S. is not there.“
But having the Americans miss this cup is bigger than just not having a team to cheer on. Harrington said it’s a missed chance to grow what’s still a fledgling fan base.
”People are just going to forget that the sport exists, all those fringe fans,“ he explained. ”I think this is a lost opportunity to sort of jump over another hurdle and make soccer a bigger sport in the U.S.“
Still, there’s hope for U.S. fans going forward. Earlier this month, soccer’s governing body, FIFA, announced that the U.S., Canada and Mexico will co-host the 2026 Men’s World Cup. And there’s a chance Boston will get to host some of the games.
Brian Bilello, president of the New England Revolution, said having games in the U.S. will help increase interest in the game domestically.
”I think it’s going to be tremendous,“ he said. ”I really think it’s going to be a boost for soccer the sport. We think it will be a boost for Major League Soccer and our teams. It’s going to be really special.“
And as Lena points out, there’s another squad of Americans who should be playing in a World Cup next summer.
[The] ”2019 World Cup is coming,“ she said. ”The U.S. Women have looked really strong. So I’m hoping that fans of soccer will take this as 'If I really love to watch soccer, and I really love supporting my country, then there is a place for me to go and be able to do both those things. And that’s with the U.S. women.’“
The U.S. women have played in every World Cup since the first one for women in 1991. They’ll be defending champions when the games kick off next year in France.
But until then, U.S. fans will have to get used to not seeing the red, white and blue on the world’s biggest stage.
