El Chingon

Cancel all your plans for the next month: This “Bad Ass Mexican” restaurant in the Gaslamp is showing World Cup games from the first kickoff through the final match. Watch on high-definition TVs while enjoying specials on food and drinks from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., including $5 micheladas and regular menu items like elote and chicharrones.

Bluefoot Bar and Lounge

Bluefoot isn’t just a soccer bar during the World Cup. It’s a full-time soccer bar where footy-fans can always flock for no-frills viewing in the heart of North Park. Their calendar is stocked with World Cup games over the next month, plus their usual pints of micro and macro brews and specials like weekday happy hours of $1 off everything all day until 7:30 p.m. Expect a rabid crowd on June 24 for Colombia versus Poland.

Mavericks Beach Club

With more than three dozen flat-screen TVs (and five bars) spread around its 15,000 square-feet, this new indoor/outdoor Pacific Beach haunt will let you enjoy San Diego weather while watching the World Cup and probably a few other sporting events simultaneously.

O’Brien’s Pub

This Convoy Street establishment doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is: an Irish pub with a bias toward European (and European-style local) beers, sandwich melts, and soccer. What more could you want for a proper World Cup experience?

World Cup Final Game Watch Party in North Park

Sunday July 15, 8 a.m.

Whether or not your team is in the World Cup final, you’ll want to flock to North Park for the biggest outdoor game-watching party on the West Coast, complete with a beer garden and food trucks. A Jumbotron will show the game as thousands of fans pack a viewing area on 30th Street and University Avenue. The last party, in 2014, drew 10,000 fans, so get there early—game time is 8 a.m.—to set up shop.

Where to Watch the 2018 World Cup in San Diego

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Wonderland Ocean Pub

What could be more San Diego than watching a Padres game from a bar that’s closer to the beach than the pitcher’s mound is to home plate? Ocean Beach’s Wonderland is the place for that. Located on the second floor of a building literally across the street from the O.B. Pier, the pub’s huge windows retract fully, letting in the sea breeze, afternoon light, and quintessentially beachy tableau below. Did we mention their numerous TV screens, solid craft beer list, and menu?

The Rabbit Hole

Crawl into Normal Heights’ The Rabbit Hole for upscale bar food, ample screens tuned in to Padres games, and a “High Five Hoppy Hour,” featuring $5 select local drafts, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Try the Cajun-spiced prawns in garlic butter beer broth, and the Cubano sandwich with slow-roasted pork, Black Forest ham, and gruyere. During the 7th inning stretch, you can retreat to the back patio for a round of corn hole.

Working Class

Diner-meets-sports bar is the vibe at this new North Park watering hole and kitchen with giant Jenga and other games on the patio. Early game time? No problem—they open at 9 a.m. for breakfast, serving eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and the like. The rest of the day you can fuel your fandom with burritos, burgers, a must-try Salisbury steak, and local craft beers aplenty.

Social Tap

You’d have to be inside Petco Park to get any closer to the action than this ballpark-adjacent sports bar equipped with more than three dozen TVs up to 110-inches placed around the bar and its three patios, one of which overlooks the field. The full menu sports salads, poke, truffle fries, braised short rib tacos, and more.

Petco Park Tailgaiting

Although loud music playing and games with balls and other projectiles—like the glorious pre-game pastime of corn hole—are verboten at the park, tailgaiting is very much an option. Stake out your spot, bust open your cooler, and create your own customized fun way of enjoying baseball season.

5 Best Places to Watch the Padres Season Opener

Petco Park is just one of many excellent places around town to catch the game.

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