The agonizing World Cup finish may be forgotten in a few days, but some fans and players are hoping that yesterday’s thrilling final will help raise the game’s popularity from the basement of professional sports.
“So many famous people have been tweeting about it. It just helps people tune in to this game and hopefully ticket sales will go up,” said Boston Breakers midfielder Niki Cross.
Cross and about a half dozen of her fellow Breakers were seated at a long table at Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard Square to watch the game. Surrounding them were more than 100 fans who threw their hands in the air with every close shot and broke into brief chants of “USA! USA!”
Manager Garrett Tingle said yesterday’s game crowd was about double the turnout on an average Sunday.
Becky Bernat of Jamaica Plain and her friends showed up nearly two hours before game time. She said she was interested in watching the game, but also showed up because of the good food.
Her friend, Susan Rice, also of Jamaica Plain, was the true fan, they said.
Rice wore her autographed Brandi Chastain jersey and said that the recent championship play of the women is helping the sport overall.
“It’s always good for the sport when they win,” she said.
