I was trying to watch the match on the TV over the bar, but it was hard to see around some very tall Belgian women wearing red devil costumes and brandishing tridents.
This happened during the Belgium-Algeria match in the 2014 World Cup, in a Belgian restaurant, BXL Zoute, in the Flatiron district of Manhattan.
It is one of the great joys of this polyglot metropolis: watching a world-class soccer game in the company of knowledgeable and enthusiastic fans from competing teams — preferably with national food and drink being served.
That opportunity is here again.