Chile – 2014

Wow. Spain is out, Chile has advanced. Still one game to go in the first round. Wow.

Deep breath…. and I don’t even really like soccer, but wow, deep breath…

Unfortunately, I missed the first half and the two Chilean goals, but the moment they scored the first goal I knew I had to be with the Chilean fans for the second half of what would be a surprising defeat of the defending World Cup champions. Most of the recommended Toronto watch World Cup lists had Chilean fans at La Rosa Chilena, 760 Wilson Avenue but I got wind of Cantagallo Restaurante on Jane Street just north of Sheppard Avenue West and I wasn’t disappointed.

Date: June 18, 2014
Score of game: Chile 2, Spain 0
Location: Cantagallo Restaurante, 2708 JANE ST UNIT #3, Toronto, ON
Estimated number of fans at location: 25

Much like some of the African Toronto headquarters, Cantagallo Restaurante is definitely a headquarters for Latin teams in the World Cup. The owner is Chilean and his wife is Ecuadorian, so they authentically cheer on the continent on mass, take a look at all the flags and jerseys on the wall, but most especially, of course, Chile and Ecuador.

This is from their facebook post below:

CANTAGALLO RESTAURANT has the pleasure to invite the whole community to enjoy South America WORLD CUP BRAZIL 2014 in a friendly and welcoming environment ….. Come support our respective countries. Monday to Sunday from 12 pm to 8 pm.

I was there for about 20 minutes before I realize there was a huge room in the basement as well, so this place can hold a lot of people. Being as this was a Wednesday 3:00pm game, it wasn’t too crowded, but I imagine that might change as Chile will advance.

As strange as it may seem, the strained and stressed faces in the following few photos shows the tension in the game despite the score. If there was a team capable of coming back from 2 goals down, it was Spain, so there was drama until the very end.

Amazing: