Just as Team USA’s World Cup victory over Iran qualified it for the knockout round, my fiance and I headed for a late lunch at the pub around the corner. In the heart of Old Town Alexandria, where Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 55 points in 2020, dozens of Virginians decided to pack the place on a dreary Tuesday afternoon — some of them clad in American flag gear — to stand and salute the national anthem and cheer on the stars and stripes.

My fiance and I stuck to Diet Coke, but the rest of the bar cheered, dined, and drank beer, something they couldn’t do in either Qatar, the site of the World Cup, or Iran. Both genders fraternized freely and cheered for a country we love precisely because we can criticize it for its imperfections.