Pizzeria Da Vinci

The World Cup Final started at 3:00 eastern time on Jul 19th, 2026. Argentina and Spain met each other in New Jersey, the closing match to a long and popular American World Cup.

But if you arrived at Pizzeria Da Vinci in Deep River, Connecticut, you would not know. The pinnacle of The Beautiful Game, any of trace of it, was nowhere to be found.

On the back wall, an 85-inch screen plays a mid-day Red Sox-Rays game to an empty dining room. They’re at Fenway. 6-1 Sox. Top of the 8th.

The bell at the door rings. “Is Johnny heah??” drawls an unseen New Englander.

“No, he’s off today”

“Oh…”

A pair of kids, one sporting a Pizzeria Da Vinci, shirt amble in following the Regular and park themselves at the low four-top in front of the screen with cups of ice cream in each hand. Perhaps they are employees. Perhaps not. They alternate between a disinterested glance at the Sox television and scrolling on their respective phones.

“It’s 0-0 in the soccer game” one says. They briefly shuffle and exit again, now with twenty dollars cash in the Pizzeria kid’s hands.

In the front corner of the restaurant, a small 18″ screen plays Bob Ross re-runs to myself and the Regular.

0-0 still. Maybe I am not missing anything.