Boston's World Cup Viewing Parties Reflect Globalizing City

Viewing parties were held on Monday morning in Cambridge, Dorchester, Foxboro — you name it — as the U.S. soccer team played its last game of group play in the World Cup, winning to advance to the next round.

But perennial favorites Brazil and Germany are also in the tournament, and their local fans have been gathering to celebrate, too. Watch the game with them, and it begins to appear that the global game is even more international than he expected.

There's a four-year-old boy singing "I am Brazilian, and proud" at Café Belô in Somerville. People are dancing barefoot to celebrate Brazil’s win over the Ivory Coast.

"We love it! 3-1 is the best! Woo!" they cheer.

There's also a the yellow and green vuvuzela. Just one of those horns is annoying, but nobody here seems to mind.

Everyone’s wearing Brazil’s national colors, including Danisy Drzic and her husband, Balsha, from Virginia, in town on business.

"We just basically went to Quincy Market and asked people where are the Brazilians going to see the game?" Drzic said.

She’s here for a taste of her home country: The fried plantains, the grilled pork sausages. She’s here to see Brazil score.

But what’s maybe surprising is that Danisy’s husband is taking the game more seriously than she is. Because Balsha is from Serbia. And Serbia has a team in the World Cup.

"I like Brazil, they’re much stronger than in years past," Balsha said. "And I hope they go all the way!"

So you've got a Serb for Brazil. And then there’s Liniker Kemke hanging out after the game.

"It’s a German name. German," Kemke said.

Liniker’s grandfather emigrated to Brazil 38 years ago from Germany. And Liniker’s father named him after a soccer star. But not after Pele. Not after Beckenbauer. After a star player for Germany’s rival.

"World Cup of 1986. Liniker was a forward of England team. And my father loved that guy, and he put that name on me. Liniker," Liniker said.

This Brazilian with a German grandfather named after an English striker says if Brazil doesn’t win the Cup, then he hopes Germany does.

Well, so do the people over at the Goethe Institute in Boston.

Compared with Café Belo, let’s just say this party was a little more organized. You had to register online. That got you some tickets for Beck’s beer and Bavarian pretzels.

But the crowd is into the game just as much as the Brazilians. American Ian Swinburne puts it this way.

"The atmosphere is a lot like a Red Sox game at Fenway," Swinburne said. "Except people aren't throwing their cell phone batteries at each other. "

Swinburne’s here with a German coworker. There’s a Ghanaian here with his German roommate. And then there’s Hidefumi Tomita. He's Japanese, wearing a Germany jersey. How does all this go together?

"I really like the German people. If it's Europe, it's Germany, if it's Asia, I support for Japan," Tomita said.

A Japanese student for Germany. A Serb for Brazil. A Brazilian named after an English forward. Boston’s always been an international city, but it makes you wonder. Is the globalized world changing how people celebrate the global game?