Spain Fans Have Taken Over New York | Americans Are In SHOCK

[00:00:00]There's a line stretching down a block in Manhattan right now. It's not for a sneaker drop. It's not for a celebrity popup. It's for PA. And every single person in that line is wearing red.

[00:00:12]You've probably seen my last video.

[00:00:14]Argentina fans turning Time Square into Buenos Aries drums until 2:00 a.m.

[00:00:20]25,000 people singing under the billboards. The whole world has seen it.

[00:00:24]But while everyone was filming the blue and [music] white party, a second army slipped into New York, quieter, better dressed, smelling faintly of Jaman and absolute confidence. Spain has arrived for Sunday's World Cup final, and they haven't come to hope. They've come to collect. This is the story of the other takeover, the one nobody saw coming until the whole city started turning red and yellow. And by the end of [music] this video, you'll understand why Americans might be more shocked by the Spanish invasion than the Argentine one.

[00:00:56]First, the context. Sunday, 300 p.m.

[00:00:59]Eastern, Metife Stadium, the biggest football match ever played, and Spain's first World Cup final since they won the whole thing in 2010. 16 years, an entire generation of Spanish [music] kids has grown up on stories of Iniesta's goal without ever seeing their country lift this trophy. Now they're one match away as European champions as the best team of this tournament by a distance with the most exciting [music] teenager in the history of the sport wearing their number 19. So no, Spanish fans didn't cross the Atlantic nervous. They crossed it like a family flying in for a graduation. The suspense, as far as they're concerned, is a formality. Now, let's document their takeover because it looks completely different from the Argentine one, and that's exactly what makes it fascinating. Exhibit A, they occupied New York through its stomach.

[00:01:50]The unofficial Spanish headquarters this week is Marcato Little Spain Joseé Andre's massive Spanish food hall at Hudson Yards, which has become a red and yellow embassy. Watch parties announced.

[00:02:01]The Rioa restaurant inside fully booked and lines out the door for tortilla and crocatas from people singing between bites. Sakarat, the famous pa [music] bar is showing the final at all three of its Manhattan locations. All three sold through. Despanna in Soho is throwing a topazen beer watch party at $35 ahead.

[00:02:22]And good luck [music] finding a spot.

[00:02:24]Argentina took the streets. Spain took the kitchens. And in New York, a city that worships food that might be the smarter invasion. Exhibit B, the sound.

[00:02:34]Argentine fans have machos, an anthem that makes grown men cry. Spanish fans have something different. Yo, soy espanol. Espanol. Espanol. I am Spanish.

[00:02:47]Spanish. Spanish, which is less a song and more a statement of fact delivered by 400 people at once inside a tapas bar. There's no melancholy in it. No 60 years of hurt, no weeping. It's pure sunlit certainty and it's currently rattling the windows of establishments from Soho to Atoria. New Yorkers keep describing the same experience. You walk past a restaurant, the door opens, and a wall of sound hits you like a wave of pure self-esteem. Exhibit C. Queens, Atoria and Jackson Heights, longtime homes of Spanish and Latin communities have gone full laa. Spanish flags off fire escapes. Cafe Con Leche crowds arguing about the starting 11 at 8:00 in the morning. Abuos who watched the 2010 final now planning to watch this one with their grandchildren in matching jerseys. The diaspora angle is smaller than Argentina's, but it's deep and it's proud and this week it's loud. Exhibit D, the Yamal effect. And honestly, this might be the biggest shock of all because the Spanish takeover isn't just Spaniards. Walk through any park in this city and count the brand new number 19 jerseys on American teenagers. Lamine Yamal has done something no Spanish player has ever done. He's crossed over into American youth culture. Kids who couldn't name three soccer rules know his celebration. His baby photo with Messi, the one I covered in my final preview, has been reposted so many times that American kids are explaining the story line to their parents. Spain didn't just bring fans to New York.

[00:04:22]Spain's teenager is converting New Yorkers in rayal time which brings us to the American reaction and the three stages look different this time. Stage one, confusion. After a week of Argentine drums, New Yorkers assumed all football fans came in one flavor, loud, emotional, percussionheavy. Then they met the Spanish version people who watch a match like they're grading it. One viral clip sums it up. A bar full of Spain fans watching the France semi-final in near silence, nodding at passes like art critics, then detonating for eight straight minutes after the second goal. The bartender's face is the thumbnail of this entire cultural exchange. Stage two, the food surrender.

[00:05:06]New Yorkers can resist a chant. They cannot resist Jaman being handcarved on a marble counter. The city's food scene fell first. Food influencers covering the World Cup from PA bars. Lines at Spanish restaurants tripling. New Yorkers discovering that vermouth hour is a lifestyle. Half this city started supporting Spain because of lunch. I'm not judging. It's a compelling argument.

[00:05:31]Stage three, conversion by swagger. And by this weekend, something remarkable happened. The neutral started picking sides and a lot of them picked red because Americans respect one thing above all, a winner. And everything about this Spanish fan base communicates winning the calm, the confidence, the European champions patches, the kid with the braces who might be the next GOAT.

[00:05:55]One tweet put it perfectly. Argentina fans made me feel something. Spain fans made me feel underdressed. And underneath the confidence, there's a real story worth respecting. These fans watched their golden generation fade after 2010. [music] They rebuilt throughmies and patience.

[00:06:14]Watch this young team get doubted. Watch them win the Euros. And now they've crossed an ocean to watch what they believe is a coronation, the first team in history to hold the European title and lift this World Cup back to back with it if Sunday goes their way. Their version of destiny isn't a tearful last days. [music] It's an empire arriving on schedule.

[00:06:34]Different emotion, same devotion. So this is where New York [cheering] finds itself this weekend. Blue and white drums on one side of town, red and yellow certainty on the other. And 8 million locals caught in the middle of the greatest cultural pinser movement in the history of American sports. On Sunday at 300 p.m., one of these [music] armies takes over the city permanently and the other goes very, very quiet. So here's my question for you. Which takeover wins New York? The drums or the pa? And if you've walked past any Spanish bar in Manhattan this week, tell me what you heard. I'm reading every comment before kickoff. Subscribe with the bell on because the reaction video drops within hours of the final whistle on Sunday. And whichever color this city wakes up wearing on Monday, you'll see it here first.