Hollywood pub draws World Cup fans for Team USA-Turkey match

Red, white and blue filled Mickey Byrne’s Irish Pub in downtown Hollywood as Team USA fans packed the room for the World Cup match against Turkey. The pub at 1921 Hollywood Blvd. again became a Broward gathering point, with supporters saying they had come there for major games for years and would not have wanted to watch this one anywhere else.

The Fort Lauderdale chapter of the American Outlaws was there as well, adding an organized U.S. soccer crowd to the scene. American Outlaws identifies itself as the largest supporters group for the U.S. national soccer teams, and the Fort Lauderdale chapter calls itself Chapter #50, a sign of how deeply the national-team fan base has taken root in South Florida.

Mickey Byrne’s has long billed itself as a neighborhood gathering place in Hollywood, and supporters pages describe it as a home venue for local soccer and sports fan groups. On match night, that role extended beyond a bar business: the pub became a shared viewing space where fans turned a Hollywood block into part of the World Cup experience. The energy stayed high from kickoff onward, and one fan said the atmosphere was as close as local supporters could get to a stadium setting.

The stakes made the crowd feel even more connected to the match. WSVN reported that the United States had already beaten Paraguay and Australia to win Group D and had locked up the top spot before facing Turkey at 10 p.m. ET Thursday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The station also noted that the U.S. had achieved only its second-ever pair of group-stage wins at a World Cup, which gave the Hollywood watch party a sharper sense of occasion.

That pattern has become familiar across Broward and the rest of South Florida. WSVN has also covered World Cup watch parties in Wynwood and at Bayfront Park, showing how bars, plazas and open-air gathering spots have become part of the region’s tournament culture. In Hollywood, the effect reaches a local level too, bringing foot traffic, food and drink sales, and a recurring sense that Mickey Byrne’s is more than a pub when the U.S. plays.