The biggest screen and sound system in Santa Barbara for the World Cup will be turned on again this weekend for soccer fans.
The Arlington Theater has agreed to show the quarterfinal matches between Brazil and the Netherlands on Friday and Germany against Argentina on Saturday. Both matches kick off at 7 a.m.
The theater has shown four matches on the silver screen, starting with the dramatic U.S. win over Algeria in the first round. The other broadcasts were Round of 16 games: Ghana eliminating the U.S., Argentina beating Mexico, and Brazil knocking out Chile.
All of those matches were shown live at 11:30 a.m.
Arlington Theater manager Karen Killingsworth said the historic venue couldn’t show this weekend’s 11:30 a.m quarterfinal games (Ghana vs. Uruguay and Paraguay vs. Spain) because of a conflict with the release of the new movie, “The Last Airbender.” The first showing of the film is scheduled at 1:15 p.m.
“The 11:30 games could go long and we have a new movie this week,” she said. “We just couldn’t kill it. It’s opening day and a holiday weekend.”
Asked about showing next week’s semifinals on Tuesday and Wednesday, which are both at 11:30 a.m., Killingsworth said she’ll have to wait and see. “There is a chance.”
The next scheduled showing at the Arlington after this weekend is the World Cup final on July 11 at 11:30 a.m.
The atmosphere for the games at the Arlington has been festive. Fans have dressed up in their team colors, they’ve brought noisemakers, flags and cheered loudly.
At the U.S.-Ghana game, Killingsworth said there was a group of guys from Ghana (reportedly UCSB players Waid Ibrahim and Michael Tetteh and their former teammate from Dunn School, Bello Alhassan, along with Gaucho Machael David from Nigeria) who pounded drums and waved their flag as their team knocked off the U.S.
“After the game was over they ran through the theater and got a round of applause,” she said.
