Canadian fans gripped with soccer fever and gearing up for Sunday's World Cup final are getting some advice from a barkeep who's seen an "unbelievable" spike in business.

Get to your local watering hole early.

Annmarie Andersen, a bartender at Betty's, which has become headquarters for Dutch fans in Toronto, says the bar is always packed during games.

Fans who sleep in Sunday will be turned away.

"Business is up over the last World Cup. I've been here for 10 years, and this summer is unbelievable," she said.

Fans lined up at Betty's more than two hours early for the semifinal game between the Netherlands and Uruguay.

"Given that it's the finals, (Sunday) is going to be insane," she said.

There are just over one million people of Dutch descent in Canada, with the largest population being centered in Vancouver, according to Statistics Canada. That greatly outnumbers the 325,000 people with Spanish ancestry, who are mostly based in Toronto.

So who are Canadians who have no connections to either country cheering for come Sunday?

"I know Netherlands has been the underdog story. I'd say Netherlands, but I've got personal ties to Spain, so definitely Spain for me," said Matthew Escano, a financial sector worker in Toronto who says his female friends chose Spain for a different reason.

"I know a lot of girls like the Spanish players. They think they're sexy," he said.

Owen Brown, who has no connection to either country, says Canadians should cheer for the Netherlands because we have a lot in common.

Canadian soldiers played a major role in liberating the Dutch people from German occupation during the Second World War.

Others have sentimental ties that have nothing to do with ethnicity.

"A Nintendo game in the early '80s had the striker from Holland that was really good, and could score every time, so I've been a fan since I was nine years old," said Kenneth Kolatschek, a Calgary man who is of German descent.

Regardless of country allegiances, scores of Canadians are in the soccer spirit.

"Soccer is getting more and more popular here," said Nik Rivenko, who is of Moldovian descent, but was wearing a Spain flag in Toronto.

An estimated 2.5 million Canadians watched the semifinal game between Spain and Germany on TV, and almost 354,000 watched online. Just over two million watched the Netherlands and Uruguay game Tuesday.

Just under three million Canadians tuned in to watch Italy's Azzurri win the World Cup four years ago, but the television ratings system has since changed, making any new numbers hard to compare.

Soccer viewership numbers are still a far cry from the estimated 16.6 million people who watched Canada win the gold medal in men's hockey at the Vancouver Olympics in February.

But the Canadian Soccer Association says enrolment in kids' soccer has steadily increased over the last 15 years.

More than one million people attended Under-20 World Cup games when Canada hosted the tournament in 2007. And when the World Cup comes around every four years, soccer schools notice a difference.

It boosts Canadians' enthusiasm for the sport, says Jeff Bryer, program director at Royal City Soccer Club.

It runs soccer camps for 12,000 kids in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

"It's the start of our busy season, and we're absolutely worked to the bone," he said.

The Canadian Soccer Association says it hopes that die hards and newly minted Canadian soccer fans will snap up tickets to watch the national men's team in an exhibition game against Peru in September.

An Ipsos Reid survey of 1,033 adults conducted for the association this week found that 78 per cent of Canadians think it is important for the Canadian team to participate at the 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil.

The estimated margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.