Nothing gets the stadium going like a quick blast of Sweet Caroline. The support that follows England is amazing and today it is astonishing – must be 80 per cent of the fans in the stadium.
The cost to do this trip is amazing. Fans brilliantly behaved and from all sorts of places across the world – including England of course!
The profile of the England fan has changed in this World Cup. Quite a few ex-pats, families and maybe a few more corporate. That is for obvious reasons but in Atlanta last night there were so many fans from great clubs like Bradford, Brighton… the list is endless.
All bases covered which just highlights the effort fans from all over have made such an effort. There was a wonderful colourful and loud pocket of DR Congo fans cheering as the names of their team are read out.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka gets a huge cheer – I bet he’d have a chance for England if he had not switched allegiances. Yoan Wissa, their big hope and dangerman, gets a great roar.
Congo boss Sebastien Desabre spoke about being motivated against England, Premier League stars and being well prepared.
They are really up for this. They made life hard for Portugal – so don’t expect anything other than a nervous difficult game.