One of the most important American soccer games ever played on U.S. soil was taking place Friday night some 2,800 miles away from the Rutherford, a bar directly across the street from Madison Square Garden, where Knicks mania has had the city in a state of euphoria.

When the U.S. men’s national team took a 1-0 lead over Paraguay with an own goal off a defender’s foot in the seventh minute of its first World Cup Group D match in Los Angeles, “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A” chants from the bar echoed through Plaza33 just below the Rutherford roof deck.

In the 31st minute, when Brooklyn-born U.S. striker Folarin Balogun scored the first of his two goals in the eye-opening 4-1 win by the Americans, those “U-S-A” chants grew louder and were more in unison.

By the time the U.S. reached halftime with a 3-0 lead, thanks to a Balogun left-footed missile that ripped into the netting in the upper left corner of the Paraguay goal in extra time, the bar was in full-throat celebration, smelling victory.