More than 15,000 England fans are expected to travel to the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Saturday for the World Cup group game against Panama. Many supporters have booked non-refundable flights for the knockout stages, expressing confidence in England's chances.
Fans Confident of Victory
Peter Harding, 74, from 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.” Panama is ranked 42nd in the FIFA rankings, while England is ranked 5th.
Richie Slaughter, 35, from Hexham in Northumberland, said he booked a non-refundable flight to Atlanta, where England would play if they top their group. “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,” he said.
Hesitation Among Some Fans
Bradley Littlechild, 30, from Edinburgh, was more cautious. He 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.”
Littlechild 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.”
Transport Costs
Supporters also noted expensive transport to the game. Slaughter said: “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.”
Tom Wilson, 32, from Blackpool, now living 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.”
