Many pubs in England are already sold out for the national team’s matches. Thiomas Tuchel’s side will make their debut against Croatia in Arlington, Texas, on June 17 at 9.00 pm UK time, and yet finding a place to watch the game with friends and drink a beer already seems like an impossible mission. Or almost. The Times, not exactly the last of the tabloids, writes in fact that many venues, especially those with outdoor spaces, have already almost run out of availability for England’s opening match. And also for the next two group games against Ghana and Panama. And that requests to secure a place in front of the big screens are arriving earlier than usual.
Booking a place, for example, to watch England’s opening game at Flat Iron Square, a large outdoor event space near London Bridge, is no longer possible. The tickets, despite costing 25 pounds, have already been sold out for some time. And a message on the venue’s website directs fans to a waiting list. Something is still available for the matches against Ghana (June 23) and Panama (June 27), but in this case too English fans who want to watch their national team’s games at Flat Iron Square will have to fork out almost 30 euros, given that the cheapest tickets (10 pounds) are no longer available. Big Penny Social, a 1,400-capacity beer hall with a large outdoor area in east London, is also heading towards a sell-out. Tickets, which can be booked online on the venue’s website, cost 12 pounds, but the map shows very few seats still available. At the same venue, for the Euro 2024 final between England and Spain, tickets sold out in less than 30 seconds and there were more than 35,000 people on the waiting list. The Ship, a pub in south-west London with an atmospheric garden overlooking the Thames, has also seen a surge in requests. Bookings there are already close to 300. But it is not only London: the rest of England is also preparing for the World Cup in America, Canada and Mexico. At the White Horse in Coventry, for example, they say that, for now, there have been many more requests in the same period compared with the last World Cup and Euros.
In England, in short, World Cup fever has already broken out. England have not won it — just as they have not won any senior trophy — since 1966, and the problem is that Tuchel’s team are coming off two rather negative matches: the defeat against Japan, their first ever against an Asian team, and a draw against Uruguay. And yet the fans seem to believe strongly in this team. Much to the delight of pub owners.