The expanded 48-team World Cup has made the tournament feel bigger than ever.
And with more nations involved, there are more colours, more songs and more chances for supporters from different soccer cultures to cross paths.
That has become one of the stories of this competition. Every country brings its own way of following the game, from noise and humour to national pride.
American fan Casey Settleman has had a front-row seat while attending a World Cup match every day. After England’s 4-2 win over Croatia, he had a clear favourite regarding the most intense crowd.
Casey Settleman names England fans the best he has seen
Settleman shared his thoughts on Instagram after England’s opening win over Croatia last Wednesday.
He said: “The England fans are just different, man. I’ve seen ten other fanbases on the World Cup tour thus far and they are by far the best. They are absolutely piss drunk out of their minds, more than any other fanbase I’ve seen and they’re chanting the entire time.
“I mean scenes of the final whistle there, when the team came over, were special. And you need to give a shout out to one of the best chants of all time: ‘you’re s—, but your birds are fit.’”
Though he mentioned seeing ten other fanbases, England were actually the 14th nation he had watched at the tournament.
Before that match, his journey had already included Brazil, Ecuador, France, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Morocco, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, United States and Uruguay.
That makes his verdict even more striking.
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