It was a mid-morning party of green and gold. Suited businessmen sat snugly alongside the more colourful football supporters.
The oriental vibes were strong at Sosume, a large bar on South Great Georges Street, Dublin, where guests at a special Tiger beer party arrived to watch the Ireland/Germany match. Argentinian Patricia O'Shea and her friend, Honor Fitzgerald, daughter of the Earl of Glinn, threw open the doors and welcomed us to the party.
There was sushi, fortune cookies - and then a hush fell as the game in the East began.
Rathfarnham brothers Dave and Paul Adams had ringside seats and the whole day off to enjoy the match properly. "Bring on the Saudis," said a confident Dave, the elder of the two.
Mark Doherty, actor and writer, fresh from performing at last weekend's Cat Laughs Festival in Cleere's Pub, Kilkenny, was ready to explode with excitement. Painter Conn O'Brien, from Sandymount (who is working on a portrait of Barbara Stanley, principal of Alexandra College) and composer Adam Orpen-Lynch were also in the cultural corner of the bar.
David Andrews, an investor - with Michael Carey and Alison Cowzer, who was dressed in a stylish lime, white and gold ensemble - was "only sorry we're not there".
The chef of the Yamamori restaurant, Dave Maguire, and its manager, Julie Ramsey, were all set to cheer the Irish players, as were Dubliners Derek Wallace and Maurice O'Looney, who were off work for the day.
Then that equalising goal. It was a moment when bodies nearly divebombed off the balconies. Roll on, next Tuesday.