I don’t know if you have the same phenomena in the Netherlands that Montreal has (or maybe even other North American cities), but come World Cup time all the motorists here drive around with little flags attached to their cars, basically announcing which country they support!

It’s funny, but while I live in a predominately French-speaking city, the Italian car flags outnumbered the France car flags by about 10 to 1!!

For getting around Montreal you might try leaving the car and using the metro system. I heartily recommend a walking tour of the Mile-End, Outremont & Plateau areas of the city, especially at this time of year.

Café Melies is great for a French meal in a sophisticated setting, but you’ll never see an Arsenal game there. They only “allow” football during the WC & Euro championship. Aside from the sports bars, I think the only place I can guarantee an Arsenal game (actually, I’d call ahead) is Ye Olde Orchard Pub & Grille at 20 Prince Arthur West. Nearby parking shouldn’t be a problem …

http://www.yeoldeorchard.com/

It’s a bit faux-celtic and they play too much Pogues et al, but it’s tasteful, clean and there’s always a lot of space on Saturdary morning/afternoon, so bringing the family shouldn’t pose a problem. And the Main, is just around the corner …

Saturday was good because Arsenal played the late kickoff – Noon Eastern. Other than that, it’s rare to have a decent kickoff time to watch games in a pub. Champions League games during the week might work, if you can get away from work.

I saw the Arsenal-Newcastle game in a pub on Prince Arthur last Saturday with a bunch of mostly Arsenal fans and two depressed guys from Newcastle, or thereabouts.

I’m more of a Plateau kind of guy—if you don’t know, it’s an old neighbourhood just east of Mont Royal known for its European émigré population of the last century. It’s full of bohemians and university students, which makes a good mix for me. Think Leonard Cohen-meets-Arcade Fire and you’ll have some idea of what I mean.

Anyway, while Montreal is first and foremost (and probably forever) a hockey town, there’s also a lot of interest in soccer here. With its large Portuguese, Greek, Italian, Latin American and French ex-pat population, nothing beats the vibe on the plateau come World Cup time. In fact, that’s how I became a fan! Like most Canadians, the only soccer I’d watched was every four years during the WC. Do you remember that France game against South Korea in ’06? Well, I was in a trendy bar (Café Melies) on the Main (Boul. St. Laurent) that afternoon watching the game with a bunch of fans from France. There was this one young bald guy sitting in front of me in a France jersey who was getting increasingly agitated as France failed to put the game away. He couldn’t stay still—he’d pace about, look at the screen, turn away, walk over to the bar, go outside, come back, turn away again in disgust. All the time his two very beautiful companions sipped their sangrias with a certain amount of indifference or at least feigned concern. Anyway, at the end of the game, which ended after a late equalizer by South Korea, he walked across the street to a parking lot, put his leg up on a low-lying fence—and just fumed! Magnificently, I might add … For some reason I became a France fan after that … (though it also helped that I won a bet on the subsequent Brazil game everyone assured me France would lose). The cops routinely closed major streets that summer for celebrations by the fans of various countries, especially Portugal. I’ll never forget the two brave England fans who walked through one such celebration chanting, “Let’s-go-Eng-land, Let’s-go-Eng-land” just after the Portugal victory that put them through to face England, I think … It was a great summer to be in the city.

But it’s good that Setanta will be broadcasting them. I’ll probably still try to get them via the pirates, but when I put a post up during the game I’ll put the results below the jump so anybody stopping by won’t have the surprise spoiled.

I caught the first half of PSG-Caen on TV5 in Montreal on Saturday in a restaurant called Dundee’s by the Art Museum. I was bugging the guy there to get me the Arsenal game, but PSG-Caen was all he could get – which was way better than nothing.

I checked the North American schedules for TV5–and I didn’t see anything listed for the upcoming two matches. They showed the France qualifiers for Euro 2008, but maybe they lost the broadcast rights … or maybe I’m just missing something.

Regarding Setanta: I think its a UK cable sports channel, which is available in North America at a rather expensive price. Personally, I think its great–though I don’t have it at home. I live in Montreal, and fortunately there are a lot of downtown, soccer …er, I mean football-friendly bars that broadcast stuff from that channel. As for the Netherlands, I really don’t know ….

Is sentanta a site where you have to pay for?
If you don’t want to watch the match live, (3 days later or something) you can download it from Emule. My daddy uses it; first download the sharing program that is called Emule. This program is (illegal) but it has very good Dvd quality