20 million will be cheering on the Three Lions
ALMOST a third of the country are expected to watch England play Panama tomorrow afternoon.
Gareth Southgate’s side will be cheered on by more than 20million armchair TV viewers and lunchtime pub drinkers in the biggest football match the nation has seen for years.
Fans at home are likely to enjoy World Cup barbecues and parties across the country – making the most of widespread sunny weather – as Harry Kane’s Three Lions hope to secure victory.
If England can follow up their opening 2-1 win against Tunisia with three points against Panama, it should guarantee the side a place in the knock-out stages of the tournament.
The millions watching at home will hear around 2,100 travelling England supporters cheering on the team in the 44,899-capacity Nizhny Novgorod stadium in Russian’s fifth largest city.
England are 1-5 favourites to beat Panama, who are making their first World Cup appearance after eliminating the United States. The Central Americans are 12-1 outsiders.
For those watching at home it has already been revealed the public spent a staggering £209million on alcohol watching the first round of the tournament.
A further £128million is expected to be spent in pubs, bars and cafes despite 86 per cent of the public planning to watch tomorrow’s big clash at home.
Last night it emerged that England’s travelling support at the World Cup so far could be the lowest in three decades.
The Football Supporters’ Federation blamed ‘disproportionate hype’ about fears of outbreaks of hooliganism following clashes with Russian supporters in Marseilles during Euro 2016.
Political tensions with Russia had also stopped many from travelling while the cost of travel also put off many fans.
England fans were outnumbered by two to one in Volgograd before the 2-1 win against Tunisia on Monday and there were around 4,000 empty seats in the stadium. Many England fans have spent thousands travelling to watch the team play, with some taking multiple indirect planes or train journeys that last up to 24 hours.
A typical charter ‘day trip’ in and out of Russia for a flying 24-hour visit is costing around £700 to £1,000, with the cost of a match ticket around £150.
In a blog post, the FSF said: ‘We reckon it’s been probably the lowest number of England fans at a World Cup game for 30 years.
‘We know there are a lot of other reasons why a lot of people have chosen to support the team from back home – there’s the distances, the cost of travel, the inescapable fact that Russia isn’t really a traditional family holiday destination.
‘The big majority of Russian people have been immensely friendly, generous and welcoming.’
The FSF added that security forces had been ‘visible but unobtrusive’.
England fans are set to descend on the city of Nizhny Novgorod from this afternoon for the encounter with Panama.
With accommodation prices rising ten-fold in the 1.2million population city many fans are expected to fly the 3,600-mile round trip in and out of the city on the day.
The match will be shown live on BBC1 at 1pm tomorrow.