‘Golazo:’ North Texas reacts to slate of World Cup teams coming to town
The owner of Euless’ Argentina 163 restaurant hopes he’ll have to change the establishment’s name next year.
The reason for that, owner Joaquin Franco said, is because the ‘163’ in the restaurant’s name represents the number of major soccer titles won by the Argentinian national team: the Copa America 16 times and the World Cup three.
If Argentina wins the 2026 FIFA World Cup, its fourth, the name of the restaurant won’t be accurate anymore.
And the journey to that possible fourth title? It’ll start in Franco’s backyard: Argentina will play two of its opening matches next summer at AT&T Stadium, FIFA announced on Saturday morning.
For Franco, the possibility of having Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi in North Texas is “unthinkable” and “almost like a dream,” he said. A massive picture of Messi cradling the World Cup trophy hangs inside the restaurant.
Beyond an increase in business at his restaurant, Franco said, he really hopes some visiting Argentinians, maybe even members of the squad, stop by to eat.
“One of our biggest dreams that we have is to meet the national team and for Messi to come here and eat and hopefully meet him one day,” Franco told NBC-DFW.
The food is supposed to taste like home, Franco said, and chief among his recommendations is the restaurant’s milanesa — a cut of beef or chicken, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried.
Across the metroplex, at Dallas staple The Londoner Pub, founder and owner Barry Tate said the phones were ringing off the hook all morning.
Tate, who speaks in a thick British accent despite having been born in Wichita Falls, founded the pub on Lower Greenville Avenue in 1990.
The Londoner didn’t show soccer matches for the first year of its existence, Tate said. But customers came in asking, and there was no way to find matches on television.
“We had to get one of them big satellite dishes, about 30 or 40 foot across, and we would televise the games,” Tate said. “They came in six hours’ time difference, but it didn’t matter to the people — they just wanted to get in and watch it.”
Mitchell Droz, the manager on duty at The Londoner on Saturday morning, said he’d even received a call from a British newspaper after the news broke that England’s national team would also be playing matches in D-FW.
The pub does well with soccer, seeing support not only for England’s Premier League, but also for other international soccer leagues and tournaments, Droz said. He’s looking forward to seeing how support for the U.S. and Mexican national teams shifts business at The Londoner.
Now, the focus is on getting bigger, better-quality TVs in time for next summer’s matches, Droz said. The pub, which has locations in Dallas, Addison and Colleyville, will open a fourth site in Arlington prior to the tournament’s arrival.
Fort Worth Sports Commissioner Drew Hays used a Spanish soccer term to describe the slate of teams selected to play in North Texas: golazo, which means ‘very impressive goal.’
The city was already projecting over $88 million in sports tourism revenue next year without including the impact of soccer’s biggest show, Hays said.
As it stands, Texas contains an “underrated” soccer fandom, Hays said, a perception he hopes will change once North Texas has its turn on the world stage next year.
“We’re giving the fans that ‘Texas you want’ experience, whether that’s at the Stockyards, the cattle drives, the rodeos or our famous barbecue,” Hays said. “We just can’t wait to showcase that to the world.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 8:27 PM.
