English supporters are doing what English supporters do best: spending money they might not have on plans that aren’t guaranteed. Hundreds of Three Lions fans have already booked flights and hotels for a potential World Cup round of 16 match against Mexico in Mexico City. The only problem? England still has to get past the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday.
That game happens in Atlanta at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Win it, and England heads to the Estadio Azteca on Sunday to face the co-hosts. Mexico punched their ticket by beating Ecuador 2-0 on Tuesday, so the stage is set. Sort of.
Ryan Woods, a 33-year-old from Portsmouth, is one of the fans who jumped the gun. He booked refundable flights to Mexico and isn’t sweating the logic.
“We should go through,” Woods said. “It’s a tough game, but if we can’t win tomorrow we don’t really deserve to be here, do we. But it will be a hard game. We’ve struggled when we’ve had to break teams down but we should be all right hopefully. On to Mexico.”
Woods admitted the real nail-biter was securing top spot in the group against Panama, which determined whether England played in Atlanta or Toronto. He was frantically checking prices for Toronto at halftime in New York. It worked out.
The financial math gets ugly after Mexico
Woods has a plan that goes only so far. He’s going to the quarterfinals assuming England gets there. Then he stops.
“I’ll be paying it off over a couple of years I think,” he said. “I’m just about to go to my house and spend loads of money on that as well. It’s not been too bad but the semi and the final was just too much of a push to do the rest of it, which is unfortunate.”
He’s a Manchester United fan who thinks the tournament finally got real once the knockout stage started. “With the only exception being the Scots, we only really had to win one game to go through anyway. So now’s the go time really.”
Atlanta temperatures have climbed past 30 degrees Celsius this week, but Jack Goodwin, 34, isn’t buying heat as an excuse. He put his £40,000 house deposit toward this World Cup trip. He’s all in.
“We’re in an air-conditioned stadium tomorrow. It’s at midday but it’s in an air-conditioned stadium so no excuses,” Goodwin said. “Not if, when we make it through tomorrow, it’s going to be difficult against Mexico because the humidity and climate will be tough.”
Goodwin was standing in Atlanta with his friend Harrison Killick before Mexico played Ecuador. They had conflicting interests. Killick didn’t have a Mexico ticket and wanted Ecuador to win so prices would drop. Goodwin wanted Mexico to win because playing them in Mexico City sounded like a dream.
Tickets for an England-Mexico matchup were already listed around $3,000, Goodwin said.
Lee Lewis, a 36-year-old Bristol City fan, already booked his flight to Mexico. “I’ve got no choice now, have I?” he said. “I’m in too deep.”
Danny Preston, 59, and his son Tom, 28, from Chesterfield, are confident despite England’s history of struggling against low-block defenses. Danny thinks England will figure it out as the competition gets stiffer. Tom agreed that better opponents might actually help England play better. Both of them are just glad the group stage is over.
“It’s getting a bit more interesting,” Danny said.
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