Manchester United, Barcelona Fans Find ‘Football’ Heaven In Brandon For Champions League Final

An Englishman, a German and an American walked into a bar in Brandon May 28 all looking for the same thing: The biggest annual sporting event on the planet.

No joke, all three were there – plus plenty of friends – at O'Toole's  for the final of the Champion’s League, European soccer’s Super Bowl. Played in England this year – the final is rotated between cities - and beamed around the world to an estimated audience of 300 million, the game is the biggest event of the year on the soccer calendar. Only the World Cup final - played every four years - draws a larger audience. This year’s final pitted Manchester United of England against Spain’s Barcelona.

“It’s the crème de la crème,” said Ernie Watson, a native Englishman who moved to Florida in 1995. An avid Manchester United fan, Watson began following the reds, as the team is known, in the 1950s. With the game drawn at 1-1 after the first half, Watson was hopeful United would hold on to win. “It’s a very tactical game and we are doing very well so far.”

Sporting a bright red United top, Watson sat comfortable in his seat sipping a beer at O’Toole’s but give it a few years and those seats won’t be so easy to come by when an important soccer game is on TV, he said.

“I would love to see soccer take off in this country. You see so many youngsters playing now but it will take a while I think.”

O’Toole’s regularly shows European soccer games on the weekends and has become a popular spot for those who like their football played at their feet. And it’s no longer just European immigrants who are coming in to watch the big games, said O’Toole’s owner Marcus Winters.

“We have quite a few Americans coming in now to watch those games as well.”

Add Declan Keenan, a recent transplant from New York City, to the list of Americans who are following the beautiful game.

“I had a lot of friends in the Bronx who were from Ireland and they all followed Manchester United so I really got into it. It’s a great game to watch.”

So how do you hook more Americans on soccer?

Gerrit Beko, a native of Germany, sipped his pint thoughtfully before answering that one.

“If you watch it for the first time it’s very intense. One goal can change everything. It’s a great game about quality, skill and endurance.”

In the end it was the red end of the bar crying in their beer as Barcelona deservedly won 3-1.

But after a summer break – professional soccer in Europe starts again in August - some of the same fans will return to O’Toole’s, the pain of this loss forgotten and hoping to be back in the same seats again next May for the 2012 Champion’s League final where perhaps the reds will prevail.