Parking lot party in Houston: “My mother isn’t allowed to read this”

Houston (Texas) – 100 tacos, 115 bottles of water and plenty of cans of beer! Ryan Brlecic (36) has thought of everything. He spent $1,000 on his German-American tailgate party. And invite everyone who comes by. This is American hospitality: Americans and Germans come together here. What unites them all is the DFB jersey.

“This is the American way of celebrating sports,” Ryan tells BILD. Classically, Americans grill next to their cars in a parking lot in front of the stadium, usually before football games. They open the tailgates of their vehicles and celebrate there. During the World Cup, the Americans are bringing the US tradition to German football!

Ryan loves Germany: He grew up in Heidelberg, but his parents are American. He later returned briefly to Heidelberg to study. Now he lives in the USA – but continues to work for a German company.

His party begins at 8 a.m. (local time) in a parking garage near NRG Stadium in Houston. Even a heavy rain shower can’t stop the fans – they simply move to the basement. The Ballermann song “We are the Germans” blares from a large loudspeaker.

There are 100 tacos and small cans of salsa sauce on a folding table. “Barbecuing was a bit too much of a hassle for us to bring everything here today.” So I bought tacos. There are a lot of Mexicans in Texas, so breakfast tacos are a big thing here,” says Ryan. Several coolers are filled with beer, water and Twisted Tea – a kind of mix between iced tea and beer. On another table, so-called “Red Cups” are set up for a game of beer pong. “Red Cups” are the typical red plastic cups that are mainly used at parties in the USA and have become known through films, series and college celebrations.

Beer pong, tacos, football – and everything before kick-off

“We play beer pong with water in the cups. Everyone has their own drink, so you don’t have to drink the finger beer,” says Stuart Renfro (40). By this he means the beer from which you would otherwise have to fish the ping-pong ball with your bare fingers. Stuart doesn’t know a single German player by name. But he still celebrates the team. “I play football since I was three years old and I’ve always watched Germany. Now that they’re playing here, I just had to be there,” he says.

The brothers Pablo (29), Manuel (30) and Gustavo (26) Chihuahua from Denver (Colorado) brought a valuable tequila with them. The World Cup Limited Edition of “Don Julio 1942” (750 milliliters, 40 percent alcohol) is priced from $179.99 upwards!

“I paid around $1,000 for the party”

The mega Germany party cost Ryan a lot: “With all the trimmings, food, drinks, tables, pavilion, I paid around $1,000 for the party. My mother isn’t allowed to read that,” he tells BILD.

But every good party comes to an end at some point. “The most important thing about tailgating is cleaning up at the end,” Ryan says. And Stuart: “In America we leave things better than we found them.” Then the troops move towards the stadium. Now we can finally watch football.