Matt O’Hara has watched plenty of sporting events with a crowd in his pub before, but what he’s seen the past few weeks has been different. 

A full dining room, a packed patio and patrons all around standing shoulder to shoulder chanting USA, USA, USA have become familiar sights at the O'Hara's Public House Team USA World Cup watch parties. 

“We’ve had a great vibe,” O’Hara said. “We’ve got big speakers in here, and we had the audio on. It was a really raucous crowd, a fun watch party, and obviously the U.S. is winning.”

O’Hara’s has hosted World Cup watch parties before, while also serving as a gathering place for Gamecocks and Pittsburgh Steelers fans. But even those events have not matched the crowds the pub has seen during this year’s soccer tournament, O’Hara said.

The 2026 World Cup has generated a higher interest in the United States for two reasons. 

First, this year’s event is being held in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, with games being played in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta. This means games run on a friendly schedule and local businesses can capitalize on afternoon and primetime matches. 

Second, the U.S. actually has a team this year that can compete with the rest of the world. 

The U.S. has not fared well at the World Cup since finishing third at the inaugural event in 1930. Team USA went 40 years between World Cup appearances in 1950 and 1990. The squad has advanced out of the group stage seven times before this year, but only reached the quarterfinal once. 

While their 2026 run is just getting started, their performance in the group stage has fans believing the Americans can make a push. 

Team USA finished first in Group D, with a 2-0-1 record. The Americans clinched the group after their second game, with wins over Paraguay and Australia. In the third game, the team drew with Türkiye. 

“I think people have been hungry for a long time to see the U.S. Men’s National Team be competitive,” O’Hara said. “Right now, there's a bit of optimism about where we stand in a bigger picture that I don't remember existing.”

O’Hara’s will continue hosting Team USA watch parties as long as the squad is alive in the tournament. The Americans get their knockout stage play started versus Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32 on Wednesday. 

Should they win that, the team advances to play the winner of Belgium and Senegal next Monday.

“We’ve been blessed that a lot of people keep choosing to be here for those games, and we're looking forward to riding this thing out, hoping that the U.S. does something we've never done before,” O’Hara said. 

Team USA may be the pub's main draw, but O’Hara encouraged anyone looking to watch the games with a group to come out and enjoy. 

“It is so much more fun to cheer with other people,” O’Hara said. “It is an at-the-game feeling that you've got here. There's applause, there's yelling. It's a real, lifelike game experience that is recreated by coming together.” 

O’Hara’s isn’t the only local business hosting World Cup watch parties. BoHo Links in Chapin, Carolina Wings and Ribs in Lexington and the British Bulldog in Columbia also have events for the U.S. and other teams in the field. 

Like the games themselves, these parties are an opportunity for people from all over the area to come together and root for a common goal. 

“There’s enough to go around,” O’Hara said. “There's lots of people who want to watch the games, and it has turned into a couple of really just really fun days. The people who have been here are leaving high-fiving other people who they’ve never met.”