6th minute-A small crowd, roughly a dozen, is watching the match on a TV tucked in the corner of the restaurant. About 30 more patrons are just eating. One soccer watcher is wearing camouflage pants with his Honduras jersey. He shoots me a dirty look and mutters something in Spanish. (No clue what he's saying.)

17th minute-The small crowd bursts into moderate applause. One man raises his glass of Coke. Spain is up, 1-0.

18th minute-A waiter tells me this is the largest soccer crowd he's seen here yet during the tournament. Two yuppies behind me appear to be drinking mojitos. No one else is drinking.

26th minute-Two guys start debating the bonafides of Spanish soccer powerhouses Barcelona FC and Real Madrid. "Real Madrid is Spain!" one asserts.

30th minute-Waiters keep stopping in front of the TV to watch. Some patrons seem upset. Not soccer fans, obviously.

33rd minute-One distracted waiter just got chewed out in front of everyone by the manager.

34th minute-The bartender switches the TV to the Spanish language telecast. Crowd suddenly gets louder. "It's so much better to watch the Spanish version," one mojito-sipping viewer remarks. "They do it better."

37th minute-Bartender turns up the volume. Crowd of soccer watchers now up to 20.

42nd minute-A guy at the bar tells a joke in Spanish. Everyone laughs. I wish I understood.

45th minute-The groans on that last miss drowned out the vuvuzelas.

Halftime-One mojito drinker applauds as the teams march off the field. Everyone else seems nonplussed. The manager is now watching TV, too. Pot and kettle, anyone?

 46th minute-A few guys break out the red wine. Now you're talking!

47th minute-Some Honduras fans just wandered into the restaurant. They're sitting at the other end of the bar.

50th minute-An even larger cheer for Spanish goal No. 2! The Hondurans slide a bit farther down the bar.

54th minute-The yuppies behind me have just ordered up a pitcher of sangria.

58th minute-Crowd beginning to appear disinterested. Fewer eyes on the TV. Conversations turn to other things. But not for long.

60th minute-Murmurs from the Honduran side of the bar as the ref calls a penalty kick for Spain. A miss! One guy on the Spanish side of the bar bangs his head against the table.

65th minute-Fist pumps from the Honduran supporters after the blocked kick. Wine consumption has noticeably tailed off since the penalty.

70th minute-Restaurant nearly empty now except for those watching the game. Now the manager and waiters are watching the game together. Heart-warming.

80th minute-One of the Honduran fans gets heckled in Spanish as he walks to the restroom.

82nd minute-Crowd is now down to 15.

86th minute-Viewers no longer drinking wine, though some have moved on to beer.

90th minute-Honduran fan checks his cell phone message. This one's over.

Final whistle-Scattered applause after the win. The few Honduran fans who remain now head for the door, quickly, while Spanish fans order some more wine.

Games resume at 7:30 a.m. Drinks at 8 a.m. Where to go? Consult our trusty guide: Where to Watch the World Cup.

Irish breakfast

The Republic of Ireland's questionable elimination from this summer's World Cup soccer tournament doesn't appear to be hurting local sales of rashers and eggs too badly. Special correspondent Alex Burchfield reports from Fado Irish Pub in Chinatown, where more than a dozen people had gathered even before today's 7:30 a.m. kick-off between Honduras and Chile:

6th minute-Decent mix of fans. Mostly families with some kids and a couple of die-hard Chile fans sitting right in front of the huge flat-screen. With the exception of two people in front of me, everyone is speaking in Spanish. Group of six Honduran women have some of those noise-making balloons. I'm having the $7 breakfast sandwich and coffee deal. Not bad. For $10, you can upgrade to a sandwich and beer. 

11th minute-Near miss by Chile. Hardcore Chilean fans sitting right in front of the screen shout, "Vamos! Vamos!" Then one says "concha," which I believe is the equivalent of "pussy" in English. Chilean fans stomp in frustration.

19th minute-Non-Spanish speakers appear to have started on some Irish coffee. A toddler wearing a Honduras jersey is wandering around the bar.

29th minute-The first beer is served, but still no score.

34th minute- Gooool! Chile! Honduras supporters sit silently while Chile fans sitting up front bang on the table, screaming "Gooooool!"

38th minute-There seems to be more Honduras fans who are women. One of them covers her face with her hair and rocks back and forth after a near miss.

46th minute-Honduras fans shout all kinds of expletives after a foul by Chile.

55th minute-Honduras fans seem exceedingly concerned. One man hasn't sat down in the last half hour. A woman behind me asks, "Why can't we pass the ball?"

66th minute-All the men supporting Honduras are drinking now. The Honduran goalkeeper is keeping them alive.

78th minute-Woman behind me gripes, "We're not looking good here. Vamos, hombres!" Kids are beating those damn noise-making balloons.

Final whistle-Honduras fans seem distraught, but no raucous celebration for Chile supporters. Place mostly clears out. Couple of guys stick around at the bar, but that's about it.

A far sparser crowd (if you can call it that) turned out for the next match, starting around 10 a.m., pitting tourney favorite Spain against long-shot Switzerland:

1st minute-Only a couple Spain jerseys floating around. One guy is sitting right up front with his Guinness and Irish breakfast.

11th minute-Still a light crowd. Very quiet. Couple of older guys at the bar are having beers.

23rd minute-Near miss by Spain. Guy with the Guinness bangs both fists on the table. His buddy then shows up in a suit and asks, "Where's your jersey?"

37th minute-Business crowd starting to roll in, but still not a whole lot happenin'.

 44th minute-Older guys at the bar groan as Spain blows a good opportunity.

 51st minute-Gooool! Swiss! Guy with the Guinness is pissed. Apparently, his friend in the suit is a Switzerland fan. He stands and shouts while clapping. He's also drinking coffee. Far less alcohol consumption overall during this match.

69th minute-Spain's shot shanks off the crossbar, eliciting synchronized ooohs from the spectators in the bar. Guy in the suit can't sit down the game is so exciting.

Final whistle-Spainish fans look horrified. Others clap for a tremendous match.

Games resume at 7:30 a.m. Drinks at 8 a.m. Where to go? Consult our trusty guide: Where to Watch the World Cup.

Photo by Ludraman/Creative Commons Attribution License

Don't throw your rabbit ears away just yet, soccer fans. At least not until the CONCACAF Gold Cup is over.

I watched last night's USA/Honduras match in glorious analog, complete with an old-school non-digital antenna hooked up and pointing skyward.

The match was broadcast live from RFK on WMDO-47, an over-the-air Spanish station that is part of the Miami-based Telefutura network, itself a subsidiary of everybody's favorite telenovela source, Univision.

If you've got the lowest tier cable TV, you wouldn't have been able to watch the game, since WMDO (like the Anglo Fox Soccer Channel, which is also showing some Gold Cup games) isn't in every package.

But if you've got no cable, like those of us now forced to live on a budget, you could cheer our boys on.

The supposed drop-dead date for analog TV in the U.S. was June 12, when the federally mandated switch to digital kicked in. Apparently something got lost in translation, because not only is WMDO still clogging up the airwaves with analog signals, but the station doesn't even offer viewers a digital option.

"There shouldn't be any analog stations out there anymore, except for maybe a high school or college station," says "Joanne" of the FCC's Digital TV Hotline out of Niagara Falls. "Everybody's supposed to be transitioned to digital by now. Our map of DC isn't showing any more analogs."

Well, then, City Desk readers, please promise not to spill the beans on WMDO to the Feds! Not for a few more weeks! Because I plan on adjusting the rabbit ears and trying not to poke myself in the eye all over again tomorrow night for the El Salvador/Jamaica game, and again July 23 when my Gold Cup TV schedule tells me WMDO will be broadcasting both Gold Cup semifinal matches.

It'll be just between us!

Turns out Manuel Zelaya WILL be in DC tomorrow. That's when the Honduras national team, which Zelaya used to control before his military gave him a red card and booted him out of the country, will face the US squad in a CONCACAF Gold Cup game at RFK.

Zelaya flew out of here on Sunday, headed for the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. But the folks who deposed him blocked the runways at the airport there. So Zelaya had to reroute to neighboring Nicaragua.

Now, AP is reporting that Zelaya is coming back to DC to meet with Hillary Clinton, to try to get the U.S. to put more pressure on his deposers to let him back in his home country.

I'm no Condoleezza Rice, but, as proposed in this very space last week, I'd advise Hillary to advise Zelaya to get his butt into a good seat opposite the TV cameras at RFK tomorrow night, to show the folks down south that El Presidente is backing the boys on enemy turf as they face Los Yanquies. (Sure, I learned whatever Spanish I know from listening to Los Lobos, so I have no idea if anybody down there calls Zelaya "El Presidente" or us "Los Yanquies." But tell me it doesn't sound right!)

Then after the game, Zelaya can board the team plane and head back to Honduras. Nobody's gonna block that runway!

Brilliant! I mean, um, fantastico!

A source at the Sports and Entertainment Commission tells me that there's not any hint that next week's Gold Cup soccer match between the beautiful losers of the USA national team and the Honduran national team will be affected by what's gone on. It's on.

I've read there's been a coup down south.

Apparently newly ex-President Manuel Zelaya, who was just thrown out of the country by his military, can't go home. Coup leaders say that if he shows up in the capital city of Tegucigalpa he'll be arrested.

The U.S. is in Zelaya's corner in this one. So why not turn this game into something huge? Let the State Department invite the deposed guy to our Nation's Capital to watch his old soccer team play our boys. If Zelaya sucks up to the futbol fans back home, and the Hondurans manage to escape with a win, he could fly back with the team and take his job back.

Can't hurt. Tickets are available, so Zelaya won't be taking up a Barra Brava member's seat.

Think it's silly? Well, the Hondurans have already gone to war once over soccer.

Really.