England are set to be backed by up to 30,000 fans at their World Cup quarter-final in Miami.
The Three Lions were very much the away side when they overcame Mexico at a ferociously partisan Azteca Stadium in the last-16, but officials believe it will be a very different story on Saturday.
FA bosses were given an increased allocation of 8,000 tickets to sell after other federations, whose teams have been knocked out, returned their quotas. And when coupled with the number of those who have snapped up a seat at the 64,478-capacity venue and ticked a box indicating they will be supporting England, the number is expected to be close to 30,000.
Thomas Tuchel and his players have also enjoyed substantial backing from locals in the US and that is again expected to be the situation at the 10pm kick-off in Florida.
Indeed, the squad will be returning to the state in which they played two warm-up friendlies in early June.
England’s matches against Croatia, Ghana, Panama and DR Congo have each felt like home matches with overwhelming backing from the stands. But an estimated 10,000 travelling fans were often drowned out in noisy Mexico City in the early hours of Monday.
England are set to be backed by around 30,000 fans in the stadium for their World Cup quarter-final against Norway
Some supporters were already out in Miami ahead of the Mexico game in the last 16
England’s supporters have been among the most vocal at this World Cup despite the distance
Following that seismic 3-2 victory, Google Trends showed a 20 per cent increase in searches for ‘flights to Miami’, peaking at between 1am and 6am.
And travel agent Flight Centre say they have seen a 7 per cent increase in bookings to the south Florida city following the 10-man triumph.
Norway, however, have been well-backed at the tournament, with their fanbase attracting attention on the back of their iconic ‘Viking-row’ celebration. And the attraction of danger man Erling Haaland will ensure plenty of backing for the Scandinavians, who are in a quarter-final for the first time in the nation’s history.
On FIFA’s resale platform, the cheapest ticket available on Wednesday for the fixture was priced at £1,464.
Meanwhile, England are set to face extreme heat for the first time in the tournament, with a forecast of 34C for kick-off time.
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