Confident England fans have booked non-refundable flights for the knockout stages ahead of their final World Cup group game – with one saying “you could get a team from Brooklyn that would beat Panama”.
More than 15,000 Three Lions supporters are expected to travel to New Jersey for the game on Saturday, with many taking the opportunity to combine the trip with a sightseeing tour of nearby New York City.
Back in the UK, the late kick-off time of 10pm is expected to spare supporters from the daytime temperatures of more than 30Cs in east and south east England, as many are set to flock to pubs to watch the match.
On Friday, fans in New York said they believed Panama, who are at number 42 in the Fifa rankings, would be no match for England.
Peter Harding, 74, from the north east town of Whitley Bay, told the Press Association: “You could get a team from Brooklyn that would beat Panama.
“A team from Whitley Bay would give Panama a good game.”
Another supporter said he booked a non-refundable flight to Atlanta, where England will play should they top their group.
Richie Slaughter, 35, from Hexham in Northumberland, said: “I think we’ve got a good chance tomorrow.
“Hopefully we beat them anyway – we’ve already booked the flights to Atlanta and a non-refundable one, so praying they’ll get the win tomorrow.
“I don’t know why, but we booked them the morning of the Ghana game, and then that obviously didn’t go to plan… but I’m still positive we’ll be there.”
Despite sharing Mr Slaughter’s confidence, other fans were more hesitant on planning for the knockout stages.
Bradley Littlechild, 30, who now lives in Edinburgh, told PA: “So we’ve booked hotels where you can do the cancellation for Toronto and Atlanta.
“We haven’t booked our flights yet, so as soon as the game finishes, we need to book flights or a bus or something, because I think the flights have gone up.
“It’s something like 350 dollars so it’s just going to sting us. And we’ve obviously got to pay for the hotel and then we’ve got to go back to New York to fly back to London – so it’s a journey.
“We’re here because we follow England home and away. It’s just money at the end of the day – I don’t think you can put a price on watching England at the World Cup.”
He added: “It’s England and it’s football – we’re all betting men and I think we would like to say that England are going to go through, but for the sake of spending 500-600 dollars, that’d be a very sore one if you have to then pay money to go to Toronto.”
Giving his thoughts on England’s chances against Panama, Mr Littlechild said: “Arrogantly, we should beat them – but someone asked…. what was my prediction for the Ghana game and I said 4-0.
“But I think tomorrow we should beat them, I’d like to say 2 to 3-0.”
Supporters have also said transport to the game in New Jersey from New York has also been expensive.
Mr Slaughter told PA: “We’re on the train to the ground tomorrow, so I think that was – well they reduced it, but I think it was about 90 dollars or something like that.
“But we’ve got to get there somehow.”
Another supporter getting the train, Blackpool fan Tom Wilson, 32, who now lives in Buckinghamshire, said: “Whilst I think it’s very expensive, it looks like the best option given some of the videos I’ve seen on the internet of traffic etc.
“I hate to say it’s worth it, given that, but it seems to be so.”
