The World Cup is in full swing, and the entire globe is going nuts for it. Even if you’re not a soccer fan, the World Cup is something that anyone can get into. When an event only happens once every four years, and your country is involved, you better be rooting them on. What comes along with all this madness is watch parties, where a ton of people get together to root for a team playing, and typically it turns into quite a rager. If you are going to be hitting up one of these watch parties, you need to know a few things in order to prepare properly, so you don’t look out of place.
Bleed your colors
This goes without saying, you need to support your country. With the USA advancing to the knockout stage for the first time in forever, if you’re American and headed to a watch party, you better be repping ol’ Uncle Sam. There is nothing worse than being at one of these parties and someone there is not living and dying by their team. In other sports, it’s okay to not get as into as others, at watch parties, you better bleed red white and blue.
Rest your voice
This one is simple. Plan on doing a lot of screaming throughout the match, and loudly at that. The day leading up to the match, don’t yell too much. You want those golden pipes to be perfectly ready to scream your head off until it almost pops like a zit. Rest up, the match lasts two hours.
Come hungry
Watch parties are full of booze and cheering, and with all of that comes food. Don’t be that person that eats right before you head there, because drunken sport food is the best. Throttle some nachos, smash a burger or two, and enjoy the game. These matches are a reason for you to get drunk and eat greasy food, so take advantage of it. Plus, they only come once every four years, might as well make it worth it.
Get liquored up
If you’re not a screamer when it comes to watching sports, ripping a few shots should change that. These watch parties are typically held at bars with plenty of TVs and more than enough booze, with World Cup specials and discounts going on. Take advantage of that and hammer home some drinks to get nice and lubed up. Not much else is as great as being hammered and cheering for America, even if you have no idea what’s going on because you’re blackout drunk. Booze definitely helps the experience, and everyone becomes drunken friends.
Know minimal facts about soccer
This is America. That means nobody likes the dude at the bar that knows what European team every U.S. player plays for during the season, or that knows all the ins and outs of the game. It makes it way more fun to just know that if that little white ball goes in the right net, you get a point. This makes it easier for everyone. Nobody wants to hear about the 2001 European northeast semifinal match between two countries you’ve never heard of. People want to get smashed and root for a sport they could care less about the other 1,400 days until the next World Cup. Just be like everyone else and wonder what it means when the ref holds up a yellow index card with a stern face.
