World Cup fever hits Lynn Commons

LYNN – Brazil is where the world is focusing its attention with World Cup soccer competition underway, but Lynn Commons is where players from around the world converge to play pickup games and talk soccer.”I root for every country,” said Myanmar native Saw Shin last Thursday as he waited to play an impromptu match with players from African nations.Lynn is a city of refugees and immigrants, including many from soccer-loving nations, and the Commons, with its wide, flat, grassy expanses bordered by North and South Common streets, is where players show up for matches dressed in T-shirts, jeans and shorts and use scuffed, black 50-gallon drums as goal posts.”I love to play soccer, and the goal is playing better,” said Shin.Kir Lay Der favors Brazil, maybe Argentina, to be the Cup victor and recalled playing soccer to pass the time during his stay in a Thai refugee camp.”If we wanted to watch it on TV, we had to pay money,” he said.Stephen Kap grew up in Malaysia, and he favors England to win the Cup – or, rather, he thinks the country’s players are good enough to win.”They’re my favorites,” he said.Elbar Macario, who is from Guatemala, thinks Brazil has the best chance to win, and he said his best chance to watch the competition is online on his tablet between work shifts.Peabody restaurateur Sebastian Gomes estimates Cup interest will boost patronage in Oliveira’s by 20 percent – especially when upcoming games featuring Brazil are played.”There’s a lot of interest – it’s great,” he said.