Mark Cannizzaro World Cup taking over US — and New York City will drink to that By Mark Cannizzaro Published June 13, 2026, 8:49 p.m. ET Brazil fans show their New Jersey transit wristbands before their team's match against Morocco on June 13, 2026 at Met Life Stadium. Reuters One of the most important American soccer games ever played on U.S. soil was taking place Friday night some 2,800 miles away from the Rutherford, a bar directly across the street from Madison Square Garden, where Knicks mania has had the city in a state of euphoria.
When the U.S. men’s national team took a 1-0 lead over Paraguay with an own goal off a defender’s foot in the seventh minute of its first World Cup Group D match in Los Angeles, “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A” chants from the bar echoed through Plaza33 just below the Rutherford roof deck.
In the 31st minute, when Brooklyn-born U.S. striker Folarin Balogun scored the first of his two goals in the eye-opening 4-1 win by the Americans, those “U-S-A” chants grew louder and were more in unison.
By the time the U.S. reached halftime with a 3-0 lead, thanks to a Balogun left-footed missile that ripped into the netting in the upper left corner of the Paraguay goal in extra time, the bar was in full-throat celebration, smelling victory.
