Corridor bars welcome World Cup fans

The U.S. men's national soccer team may be in the 'Group of Death,” but that isn't affecting local soccer fans' excitement for the World Cup.

'We're really excited and it's been something we've been talking about every single day,” said Stacey Donahue, manager of Donnelly's Irish Pub in Iowa City, which the website BuzzFeed named the best bar in Iowa for watching the World Cup.

Donnelly's and Jersey's Downtown in Cedar Rapids are home base bars for local American Outlaws chapters. American Outlaws is an organization that supports U.S. national soccer teams. The bars will be showing World Cup games on television.

Donahue said she's worked to make the bar soccer-friendly and is seeing a growing interest in the sport.

'The environment around soccer is definitely changing,” said Seth Jacobs, secretary and treasurer of the American Outlaws' Iowa City chapter. 'It's becoming a lot more accessible.”

The first game of the World Cup, for which Brazil is host, was between Croatia and Brazil on Thursday. The United States will take the field at 5 p.m. Monday against Ghana, a team it played, and lost to, at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

Derek Oja, president of the American Outlaws' Cedar Rapids chapter, said the group will be welcoming to anyone interested in checking out soccer.

'Everyone in (the bar) is going to be rooting for the same team, cheering when stuff is going well and they'll be screaming at the top of their lungs if something goes bad,” said Oja, who added that the group hopes to foster local interest in soccer.

Oja and Jacobs said they are staying positive when it comes to the U.S. men's chances this year,

The United States is in Group G, dubbed the 'Group of Death.” The United States must play Ghana, Portugal and Germany in the first three matches. To move on, the U.S. team must be in the top two of the group.

'I'm hopeful. I think we've got a lot going for us as a team,” Jacobs said. He said he believes the team has evolved under the new coach, Jurgen Klinsmann.

'We definitely get involved in the game, and it's hard to be in the bar and not pay attention to it,” Jacobs said.