Looking for die-hard soccer fans in the Sacramento area? Zebra Club welcomes all
Dozens of soccer fans packed Zebra Club — known as “The Z” to regulars — at 1900 P St. in Sacramento’s midtown on Wednesday to watch the Europa League final between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Tottenham, which had won its previous three meetings with Manchester United, completed the sweep with a 1-0 victory in the Europa League final. Brennan Johnson scored the lone goal in the 42nd minute after an incidental deflection off Manchester United’s Luke Shaw, sending Spurs to next season’s Champions League.
Zebra Club drew nearly 100 fans clad in team colors. The venue, an official Premier League USA watch bar, caters to supporters of both clubs. Inside, patrons watched from 11 televisions, including five mounted outside on a patio styled like a covered backyard.
Sacramento-area fans have long gravitated to Zebra Club for Premier League matches, especially those featuring Man U and Tottenham.
Brian Trainer, who founded the Sacramento Spur Club in 2014, helped cement Zebra Club as a Tottenham fan hub. The group started with a few friends and has grown to more than 75 members.
“I just picked a team to follow about 15 years ago,” said Trainer, 40, who was born in Woodland and raised in Sacramento. “After watching the World Cup and wanting to follow a club team ... we started watching games here a little over 10 years ago.”
While Zebra Club now hosts both clubs’ fans, Trainer said Spurs supporters were the originals even if the bar’s entrance is draped by a Manchester banner.
“Technically, it’s both,” he said. “If you look up here, we both have (memorabilia), but like we were here first. They like to forget that little bit, but it’s fine.”
“We play nice. Today was just such a perfect storm, playing them in the final, but for the most part, we’re all cordial.”
Trainer traveled to north London last month to watch Tottenham play in person, a trip that made this win especially meaningful. The Europa final marked Tottenham’s first major trophy in 17 years.
“This team is more like the nearly-win team, the ‘almost’ team,” he said. “We haven’t won a trophy of this size since 1991. ... We’ve been in four finals since the last time we won something, and this time we finally did it.”
Watching the celebration unfold was emotional for longtime fans like Trainer.
“I honestly don’t know how to feel ... It’s surreal to see. It’s awesome,” he said.
The win also brought in first-time visitors like Andre Bush, 37, of Marysville. A fan since 2000, Bush learned about Zebra Club from someone at a recent Sacramento Republic FC match.
“Just walking in before we scored, it was a 10 out of 10. ... But now that we’ve won, it’s like a 20 out of 10,” the Yuba County resident said.
Throughout the match, chants of “Come on, you Spurs!” echoed inside the bar.
Man U fans sulk in down year
Fans of Manchester United weren’t too enthused with the team’s performance but enjoyed the outing nevertheless.
Hugo Cannizzaro, 31, visited Zebra Club for the first time after he was drawn in by the Man U signage visible on the street. He’s been a fan since he was 10 years old living in Bulgaria.
Cannizzaro walked in and was immediately greeted by fellow United fans. A win Wednesday just wasn’t in the cards for die-hards like Cannizzaro.
“Anytime you’re in a championship, you want to have a win, you want to do well,” Cannizzaro said. “I think it just will probably signal some change, and hopefully in a positive way, to say there’s, there’s the right motions in play to get this team back up overall. Us being here, I think, is proof that that’s still a feasible dream.”
Casmir Emodi is originally from Nigeria where he became a Manchester United fan at the age of 5 because of legendary players like Wayne Rooney.
“That made me become a lifelong fan,” Emodi said. “My family were supporters of different clubs. My dad was a Chelsea fan, my brother was a Liverpool fan, but somehow I just got attracted to Manchester United, and it’s basically been that way all my life.”
Emodi, 24, said he’s seen his team’s best days and worst, so he didn’t take Wednesday’s loss too hard.
“It made me cry as a kid, and it hurts my weekends as a young man right now, but it’s part of me,” Emodi said. “I’ve seen the glory days, and I’ve seen tough times that we’re going through right now.”
“We had a terrible season,” he said. “I didn’t even want to watch the games, but I feel like what happens from here on is going to be make or break for the club. The club wants to be in a revised championship. I get it, you know, they want to be in the big leagues, right? But I don’t think the club is ready for the big leagues.”
