Places to watch near Rockford, IL

I never stop in Rockford, so I don't know if there's actually a soccer bar there but worst case scenario what i would do is go to Buffalo Wild Wings. Especially with kids.

 

If you can swing by Chicago instead, this is going to be the place to be...

http://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2014/05/20/14/29/140520-mnt-chicago-viewing.

Parking in the area is a little pricey but doable.

 

Yes it will be. Me and about 30 friends are all taking the train down from the suburbs for the Portugal game. Any idea on how many people are going to be there/how early a train we need to catch to get a decent spot?

 

Not to change the subject but changing the subject... I'm flying out of ohare at 9pm Thursday. I'd like to watch the Brazil game at 3. Any good spots near the airport ?

Unfortunately I'll be lugging around my bags.

 

The Curragh Irish Pub is a safe bet 5-10 minutes from the airport. Never been there for a World Cup game, but I have for EPL and Champions League games, and they'll definitely have it on. Not sure how many fans will be there for a Brazil-Croatia game.

Lee Street Sports Bar (<10 minutes to O'hare) is less likely to have soccer on during any given weekend, but I'm still sure World Cup games will be on the TVs. Again though, not sure how the atmosphere will be since it's a more traditional American sports bar than The Curragh.

In my opinion the best option north of the Loop is The Globe Pub. Terrific atmosphere for pretty much every soccer game I've been there for (USMNT, Champions League, EPL, Fire games). Not incredibly close (half an hour drive to the airport), but it's on Irving Park Road so the drive would at least be an easy one. And since the game would be over at 5ish, you should still have plenty of time to catch a flight at 9, even accounting for O'Hare being O'Hare.

 

The Globe is possibly the best soccer pub in the country. It's the type of place that switched the game sound away from March Madness to a Philly/Columbus MLS match because we asked for it. Though to get there, you'd have to take the Blue line to a bus. I'd also expect the place to be really full on Thursday.

It's not a traditional spot, but there's a new bar/resturant/butchershop/concert venue in Wicker Park called Chop Shop that's right off the Damen stop on the Blue line (which ends at O'Hare) that's going to use their concert space to stet up a big screen with bleacher seating. I think that's where I'm going to try to watch the games Saturday Night.

 

I'm getting there around 4:20 (which may end up being an optimistic estimate given how my clinic has been running lately). I'm not sure about a "good spot" or how it's going to be set up. For the viewing for the Honduras game last summer, they set up folding chairs around the bandshell (where the Germany game is going to be this time), which filled up about 20 min before the game with lots of standing room behind them. The crowd really wasn't that big for that game, but USSF didn't really do much publicity.

For the two evening games, the viewing is going to be in a huge open area, so it's unlikely that there'd be any capacity issues even if you end up a good distance from the screen.

 

No chance I'm getting on I90 and going east of O'Hare, but thanks for the tip on the Globe.

Sadly I might have to rent a car to do this or just watch in the airport.

 

Yeah, I'm just assuming there are gonna be a lot more people there for a World Cup game than a qualifier. Due to the way this country freaks out about soccer for one month every four years, I was picturing something closer to the Blackhawks victory parade rallies (not numbers, obviously. Just in terms of setup)

 

Well the location is the same. The bigger the better. (even though I'm a Wings fan)

 

Yeah I hope this is huge. Just looking at what similar events in other big cities (NY, DAL, LA, etc) I was expecting around 10,000 or so. Guess we'll find out in just under two weeks

 

I expect the crowd for Ghana to be good but for it to be HUGE for Portugal. ESPN is going to show footage from Grant Park during the games, and given USSF's somewhat low publicity for this, I get a feeling there's going to be a jump between the first and second games regardless of result.

 

Yeah, unfortunately I work until 3:30 on the 16th so I can't make it down there for the Ghana game. But I'll be at the Portugal game and hopefully the Germany one too. I really hope it is huge. It's a Sunday afternoon, so there should be a ton of fans who can go.

 

Though looking at the 10 day forecast, 40% chance of rain with passing thunderstorms. I think I'd actually have fun watching in the rain, though I'm pretty sure the Fed isn't too keen about having us out there with thunder and lightning. First Ward is my backup if it looks like lightning. There are a couple bars in South Loop that would be good emergency backups, but I get a feeling I'll be watching the weather closely.

 

I know I've cross-posted this, but here's the massive screen USSF is putting up. It looked like it was going to be at the very south end of the field near the walking bridge under Michigan Ave and Roosevelt, though I suppose it's a possibility it gets placed down in the Softball fields where there's a huge amount of open space.

 

Eden hazard plays for Chelsea but if I knew you were in wisconsin I'd have told you to shack up in madison and got to state street.