More than a thousand Spanish soccer fans are flooding the streets just east of Little Italy, shutting down portions of College and Bathurst streets and rerouting streetcar traffic in the area.
Dozens of partiers climbed atop an abandoned streetcar out front of the Plaza Flamingo dance club and restaurant, Toronto’s unofficial Spanish headquarters.
“We didn’t expect to win,” said Elena Fernandez, who is from Madrid and studying English in Toronto. “We would prefer to celebrate in Madrid with all our friends and family… But here there’s a lot of party so we are having fun.”
The scene is much different a few blocks away in Liberty Village, where Spain’s goal was met with stark silence.
No noisemakers. No vuvuzelas. Just silence.
“That hurt,” muttered one fan named Olaf.
As dozens watched on, many with their hands clasped over their mouths in prayer, others began heading home, their World Cup dreams shattered.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Leonard Kanters, with the words “Hup Holland” painted in orange across his face.
“But it was an excellent game,” he said, correcting himself or perhaps just being optimistic. “Heartbreaking would have been is getting out in the corner finals,” he said, “We played great until the last minute.”
Other fans were less diplomatic.
“The ref was against the Dutch,” said Roeland Hoekstra. “Holland earned the World Cup. It was a bulls–t goal.”
There was one lone Spanish fan in the sea of orange, who braved jeers, taunts and the occasional threat during the game.
He said he had never intended to come to epicentre of Dutch fandom, “but my friends brought me here. I didn’t know we were coming to an all-Dutch crowd,” said A.J. Sherifi.
During the games halftime, Sherifi joked that he would flee the scene upon Spain’s first goal.
“It doesn’t matter where you are, you’ve got to cheer for your team,” he said.
As Dutch fans left the bar, Spain supporters drove past them in cars waving giant Spanish flags, gloating and honking.
The post-loss mood for Dutch fans stands in grim contrast to the colourful lead-up to Sunday’s drama.
Before the big game, Toronto restaurant owners had taken out brilliant orange and red banners and turned on the big screen TVs, as fans broke out the face paint for Sunday’s World Cup final.
Sean Thompson, the owner of Betty’s on King, said hundreds of Netherlands fans had started gathering at the bar Sunday morning.
“They are all having fun right now,” said Thompson, before the loss. “Everyone is in orange, and it’s crazy. They are wearing everything you can think of. It’s a busy day.”
Along Queen St., a stream of cars displaying Dutch flags were blasting horns loud enough to drown out the sound of the vuvuzela horns.
Matt Dipoce, who was wearing a full orange body suit, says he bought the outfit online for $50.
“It’s the best purchase I’ve ever made,” he said. “The Dutch are killing it. They knocked out Brazil — the Number 1 team.
“I’m Italian and Slovenian but I like to say I’m Dutch,” he said.
He wasn’t alone. When the Dutch national anthem came across the speaker, half the crowd appeared not to know the tune, let alone the lyrics.
“They’re one of those countries that steals the most fans (from other countries),” said Tom Feret, a non-Dutchman but an avid fan of the country’s soccer team since the mid-1990s.
There were more than 1,000 Oranje fans packed onto Fraser Ave., near King and Dufferin Sts. Across the street from the School Bakery and Café, where many World Cup fans had congregated, a crowd was watching a flat screen on a patch of grass.
At the unofficial Spanish headquarters at College and Bathurst Sts., the party was well under way around an hour before the game, where lengthy lines had already formed to get into the Plaza Flamingo and El Rancho restaurants to watch the big game.
At least 300 people waited in a line to get into Plaza Flamingo, the crowd snaking around the block and south onto Bathurst St.
The sound of Spanish music filled the air, occasionally interrupted by whistles and blaring vuvuzelas.
More than 1,000 rowdy Spain fans crammed both floors of the Flamingo, where DJ Danny Galarza revved up the crowd with Spanish club hits.
“I feel like I’m in Hollywood,” Galarza said, gesturing to the excited crowd. “I’m hyped!”
Spain fans appeared mostly confident about the game’s outcome, but there was an underlying nervousness to their loud excitement.
“I’ve got butterflies, man, I’ve got butterflies,” said Albi Stermasi, covered in red face and body paint and wearing a red clown wig. “But we’re up for the challenge.”
Those who were turned away at Flamingo made their ways to El Rancho, Rancho Relaxo, Sneaky Dee’s and anywhere else with a big screen and a beer tap.
Blaring vuvuzelas, honking car horns, blasting whistles and shouts of “ESPANA!” all punctuated the usual street hum.
Hayley Koopman, 21, and Jeremy Von Bird, 24, were wearing the only orange in sight on College St.
“Do you know where we should go?” Koopman asked, though the pair was planning to watch the game at Plaza Flamingo, despite being overwhelmed by throngs of red-and-yellow clad Spain fans.
“Victory will be that much sweeter,” Von Bird said.
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