American fans gather in Berlin for World Cup game

It’s easy enough to be a fan of the German national team if you live in Berlin. But what if you’re one of the 20,000 or Americans who call the city home? Just finding a friendly place to watch the game can be a challenge. But Americans have found one place where they can at least root for their team in peace.

Ira Spitzer reports from Berlin

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People singing the American national anthem at a German bar during the World Cup? For Sheldon Eisenhower from Nebraska, an American living in Berlin who showed up decked out in the Stars and Stripes, what could be better?

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“It’s great, you know everyone’s usually very excited about whoever you’re voting for, it’s a lot of fun, I can get away dressed like this and have a great time.”

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Like the country its named after, the Berlin restaurant the Swiss Chalet remains decidedly neutral when it comes to its soccer viewers. While, the majority of people are still German, a large number of Americans have planted their flag here during this year’s tournament.

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“All the Americans I know are coming out to watch the USA hopefully beat, but if not beat definitely give Germany a real run for their money.”

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When she’s not cheering on the US, Gwendolyn Lynch’s chapter of Democrats Abroad Germany registers Americans voters living in Berlin and she helped organized the event. But today it’s all about the fußball.

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“I’m happily surprised at how well we’ve been doing throughout this cup. We’ve been playing fair, we’ve been giving it our all, we’ve been using the American spirit.”

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That spirit however wasn’t enough to stop Germany’s Thomas Mueller from scoring in the second half. The Americans struggled in vain to equalize, only to fall by a score of 1-0. Luckily for the Americans though, Portugal was beating Ghana at the same time, sending the US through to the next round anyway. After the game, Nicholas Bashour from Washington state displayed some of that famous American optimism was on full display.

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“The next time we’re going to match up against Germany, it’s going to be in the final. US-Germany, final World Cup 2014, but this time the US is going to come out on top.”

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But for today it was the German hosts who got to light their victory cigars. (While the loss certainly wasn’t the result that the American fans here were hoping to see, they’ll happily take their ticket out of the group of death and into the next round. Ira Spitzer, CCTV, Berlin.