Turning the corner onto Park Place in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon, you could hear the cheers and applause even a block away.

Café Rue Dix, a Senegalese-French restaurant in Crown Heights, was hosting a screening party for the FIFA World Cup’s France vs. Senegal match, ahead of which one big question hung in the air: Could Senegal repeat its shocking upset in 2002 and beat France again?

Minutes after the 3 p.m. kickoff, a crowd had gathered on the corner. Some fans wore jerseys; others showed their allegiance with more creative outfits, sporting the colors of their respective countries. (More still simply showed up to watch in their work clothes.) Cars honked their horns and cyclists pulled over to tune in as flags fluttered in the wind, fans clambered to see the screen, and people hugged and shouted. All the while, orders poured in for thiebou jen, yassa guinar, dibi, mafe, and cold Ethiopian and Moroccan beers.

“They got the big screen out,” I heard a passerby say. “Everybody’s out here.”

Next door at Marché Rue Dix, owner Nilea Alexander was running the store, greeting customers by name as they floated in to browse clothing, jewelry, decor, records, and more. Two women bought football jerseys by the brand Art Comes First, wearing them as they headed out to watch the match in the café. “Now the vibes are where they need to be,” one of them said.

More than a restaurant, a store, a salon, or a brand (and it is all of those things), Rue Dix is a community hub. Alexander and her husband, Lamine Diagne, opened the restaurant in 2013 and the store in 2014. Diagne is Senegalese, and the business name—Rue Dix Brooklyn—is a nod to the street where he grew up in Pikine.

Though the café is not a sports bar, it shows the Africa Cup of Nations games, and this year the couple couldn’t resist screening the thrilling NBA Finals. “If it’s a game that’s important to us, or that speaks to our narrative, diaspora, anything that’s big, we try to show it,” Alexander says of their approach. “I think everyone’s always rooting for Africa. I think a lot of the scene today, it’s like, no matter who wins—because there’s so many African players that play for France—we win.”

“We’re rooting for the diaspora, we’re rooting for the continent, we’re rooting for anyone that is playing and making it happen,” she continues. “What I like about sports is the stories behind sports. It’s so much more than sports. It’s politics, it’s fashion, it’s triumph, it’s so much.”

When they decided to have a screening party for France vs. Senegal, they thought: “We’ve built this place. Let’s let people feel like they can come and watch in an environment that feels like home,” Alexander says.

“This match is a very emotional game for me,” Alexander’s husband and co-owner Diagne tells me at halftime. It brings him back to 2002, when Senegal beat France in the opening match of the World Cup. Slipping away to attend to the screening, he asks me to wish Senegal luck.

“I’m Caribbean, but Senegalese culture is something that’s always spoken to me,” says Khaleelah Logan, a regular for years now, “and just the communal energy that you feel whenever you come here.” Rue Dix even inspired her to take a trip to Senegal.

“It gives block party. Everyone is here,” Logan adds. “You’re seeing aunties and their babies come out, you’re seeing kids with their parents, you’re seeing transplants from wherever in the U.S., and a lot of passersby too.”

To sum it up: “The family is here, the rivals are here, the cousins are here.”

Mother-daughter duo Rebecca and Chana Campora had a prime table for the match, and they were among the few rooting for France. Chana was wearing a T-shirt of her mother’s from back when France won the World Cup in 1998, and describes the feeling at Rue Dix as “exhilarating.” By the time we spoke, France had won the match, 3-1. “I would’ve been so happy if Senegal won also,” Chana said, “because they totally deserve it.”

Also among the France fans was Adi Oasis, a French-Caribbean singer, bassist, and producer who was born and raised in Paris. “The other team I support after France is Senegal, so I knew it would be good vibes” at Rue Dix, Oasis said. “It’s depth beyond football. You’ve seen the French team, they’re like 90 percent Black. I’m Black myself. We’re all kids of immigrants from the French diaspora, post-colonialism,” she added. “A lot of the players on the French team have Senegalese parents.”

“Football is religion to us, for French people, for Senegalese people,” she continued. It’s also a vehicle for opportunity—for kids from all backgrounds to compete, have fun, and work to be the best. “It’s something that gives hope.”