World Cup 2018: America out, fans in

When it was announced in October that the United States men’s team had been eliminated from participating in the World Cup, people were upset.

They were upset that a team excepted to perform well in competition had failed to qualify. Upset that they’d have no one to root for. But that hasn’t exactly been the case.

At the Pressbox in Pocatello, soccer fans are coming in to watch the super competitive tournament early in the morning. As this year’s cup is in Russia, many of the games take place between six and noon, mountain time.

John Kalivas, owner of the bar, said that despite all of this, he is actually seeing a lot more people come in to watch games.

“Random people just coming in, and just requesting, people that I’ve never even seen before, this year.”

Many assumed that it would have been the opposite, but Kalivas said he kind of expected it to be this way since a lot of people route for their favorite players, even when their country is out.