‘Fans believe England have changed – and now they have a chance’

Henry Winter’s World Cup Diary, Day 29

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Miami to Kansas City
I know it shouldn’t be high on the list of what makes a great World Cup but I really enjoyed a night out in Miami on Friday, meeting England fans at a few bars in Miami Beach. Miami at night, even with a brief thunderstorm, joined Mexico City (fun, healthy, crazy) and New Jersey (village bars) for my three best nights with England fans in the tournament. The age was between 35 and 60-odd, the group combined from Wimbledon to Manchester United, Leeds United to Newcastle United and Chelsea.

All were passionate England fans, and all had endured many bad times with England: the wasteland of the 1970s, the frustration of the 80s, the flickering candles of hope in the 90s before they were brutally blown out. All these fans live on more of that. Thomas Tuchel called it an emotional rollercoaster. But the rollercoaster offers a series of highs. England never had that until Gareth Southgate took over and now Tuchel.

They remember watching events at Azteca in 1986. Now they are chasing away the viewers of the past. These fans remember Turin, Saint-Etienne, Charleroi, Shizuoka, Lisbon and Gelsenkirchen. They remember not making it to Euro 2008, kicking out a stinking South Africa, more purgatory in Kyiv, and being home from Brazil before the malaria pills came in. They remember with a shudder the horrors of Nice. So when they see Jude Bellingham playing with this energy and fun and hunger, they believe that England has changed. And now get a chance.

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England has been designated as the “home” team in Atlanta and will play in white. This means that Argentina is on its way. Blue. The one they wore with the Hand of God and Goal of the Century at Azteca in 1986. The one they wore at Saint-Etienne after David Beckham was sent off and England were sent off on penalties in France ’98. It’s fun to see who gets Lionel Messi’s shirt at full time. It may be a respectful exchange with Jude Bellingham, the talents agree. However, given that Diego Maradona’s Azteca shirt sold for £7m, Messi’s World Cup shirt will fetch even more.

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Football debates are raging in newspapers, magazines and mobile phones. Social media accelerates transactions even more. Consider the response I received at Miami Stadium. “Really? [sic] there is a referee. I hope he will win the WC now. But feel that we are being robbed today.” This was the response of Norway’s respected international player, Alfie Haaland, after the game to my halftime post on X praising the impact of Bellingham.

I wrote, “Odegaard was starting to run the game. ‘England is going home,’ chanted the Norwegian fans. Bellingham decides that it will not happen. He takes, he takes responsibility, he acts and he takes the opportunity. What a player. The best I have seen in 35 years covering England. 1-1 ht”. It was good enough at half-time, and the big reaction was whether Bellingham was better than Paul Gascoigne. (Yes was my answer because of his mental toughness).

Haaland Sr, watching in Miami, was frustrated by Norway’s exit from the World Cup and its path. He felt that the French referee, Clement Turpin, was overly sympathetic to England. His son Erling was penalized for pushing Elliot Anderson who looked like he was doing two hands, even if Anderson went down easily. VAR intervened and disallowed Torbjorn Heggem’s effort on goal.

Norway also complained that Bellingham’s equalizer was assisted by a spider-cam error. FIFA’s Snicko did not sign the communication. But, at the very least, FIFA needs to work with its cameramen to make sure the wires don’t go too low.

I knew what the response would be with Haaland’s response, and I could see the England fans were already packed, so I kept my response to speaking. The Haalands, and the Norwegian team and support in general, are impressive people, who have added so much to the World Cup, that it is important to respect and not start a bunch. So I replied, “Norway’s first half was excellent. England were pulled over by Bellingham. No consolation but your players and supporters have done your great country proud”. And they had.

I posted it as a reply, rather than quoting the tweet, which I sent to 1.1m followers and, because of the painful experience, I strengthened the exchange and made it even more public. It still has 5m views. Personally, I didn’t think Turpin was poor and players make mistakes. Imagine if Alexander Sorloth had squared Alife’s lad with Norway 1-0 up?

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A group of England fans who had traveled from the UK were sitting upstairs at the Miami Stadium. They looked around at their neighbors who were wearing Three Lions shirts. “Stand up if you’re from England,” they began to sing, making a point about the level of deception. Of course, many of those around them were ex-pats, Americans of English heritage, just fans of Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane’s team or fans of the Premier League. It is a compliment to England in a way.

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It’s amazing how suddenly a vision comes in. I struggled with the vending machine at the KC airport, the ones where you have to punch in the product number, pay and hope the right one falls into the basket. The young man helped and then asked about my way of speaking. So I asked his. He was born in KC but his parents are from Micronesia. He was flying there for the first time. His father had passed away, he was buried in Micronesia and he was going to pay tribute and respect.

Check out Henry Winter’s entire World Cup Diary here