‘I paid $800 for my ticket but it was worth it’: England fans enjoying early World Cup vibe

T hey came, they saw and they went to the rodeo. For those England fans who made it to Dallas, watching Thomas Tuchel’s side see off Croatia in their opening match of the 2026 World Cup was the experience of a lifetime. “I’ve never been to a World Cup game before so I thought it was something I couldn’t miss out on,” says Oli Lee, a music producer from Kent who now lives in Los Angeles and is otherwise known as one half of the Snakehips duo who had a UK top-five hit in 2015. “I paid $800 (£604) for my ticket but it was all worth it. We had a bit of a session in Dallas – I ended up jumping in a pool with my phone in my pocket but it’s still working somehow!” About 4,000 England supporters bought tickets for the game at the futuristic Arlington Stadium – home of the Dallas Cowboys – but it is estimated that as many as 15,000 were in Texas for the buildup. A video of some launching into a chorus of “Sweet Caroline” during a break at the Fort Worth Rodeo on Tuesday went viral on social media, with many others embracing the cowboy culture by purchasing hats to shield them from the unforgiving Texan sun. One pub in downtown Dallas, called the Londoner, said they ran out of beer after fans spent almost $30,000 in the space of three hours, with some reports in UK media claiming they ended up being thrown out by police. That version of events was disputed by the police themselves, who told local media that no one was forcibly removed. …