Women's World Cup: Thousands of fans to cheer on England Lionesses as they take on USA in semi-final

London's pubs were today predicting an “electric” atmosphere as thousands of fans turn out to watch England’s Lionesses take on the USA in the Women’s World Cup semi-final.

Tens of thousands of supporters are expected to flock to pubs and bars across the capital to roar the Three Lions on as they face the reigning world champions tonight.

Megan Farrell, 26, manager at The Book Club in Shoreditch said the venue is expecting its best crowd of the tournament so far for the match.

She said: “It’s been even busier than we expected. The atmosphere has grown with every game and it’s been really lovely.

"It’s not just men, we’ve had lots of female fans who I think have really embraced the World Cup.

England's women celebrate after beating Norway 3-0 in the quarter finals
PA

“I’d say it’s been much busier than what the men’s was last year, the fans have been great. We’re expecting at least 300 people and it’s probably going to be our busiest night of the year. It’s great to see the women’s game get as much attention as the men’s, if not more.”

The Lionesses’ 3-0 quarter final win over Norway on Thursday smashed viewing records with 7.6 million people tuning in, making it the UK’s most watched women’s football match ever.

David & Harper Beckham watch England Lionesses at World Cup

1/18

Sonny Robb, 25, general manager at Bar Kick in Shoreditch said they were expecting even more interest in tonight’s game.

“We’ve seen more and more fans come for each game, the England and the US games have been the biggest so far but we’re expecting this to be the biggest yet,” he said. “The fans have been more polite, but have been rowdier than the men’s last year, in a good way.

“We’ve had the drum banging in the bar at every game, and the atmosphere has been brilliant. It’s funny because rather than just bottles of beer we’ve been selling lots of cocktails and gin and tonics because it’s not just men who are coming to watch.

Megan Rapinoe of the USA celebrates after scoring her team's second goal against France
Getty Images

“It’s great for the women’s game for there to be so much support.”

The Long Arm Pub and Brewery in Finsbury will be serving The Lionesses Roar - a pale beer brewed in an American style - to fans tonight, and should they go all the way and lift the trophy they will be handing out free pints.

Fans are also expected to flock to Battersea Park for a big screen event.

Charli Corrigan, 26, supervisor at The Alexandra in Clapham Common said: “It’s got busier with every game, and the last game I’d say was on par with the men’s quarter final last year. We’re trying to get everyone to get behind them, I think it’s amazing how far they’ve got, could you imagine if they went on to win it.”

But the England fans ser set to be outnumbered by their US rivals in the stadium in Lyon tonight,

Ticket sales suggested that the majority inside the Groupama Stadium for the evening kick-off would be waving the Star Spangled Banner.

“There certainly seems to be a lot more American supporters around than English ones,’ said a national police source in Paris.

“They are very vocal and enthusiastic, but also extremely well behaved. Very few of them drink alcohol. They are certainly not the kind of football supporters we are used to!”

Typical of the American support are the Markowskis, from Washington DC, who are making an 8,000 mile round trip to watch.

Jennell Markowski, 41, was taking the train to Lyon from Paris today with her husband Andrew Markowski, 42, and their four daughters, Elyse, 10, Layne, eight, Karis, seven, and Vivi, four.

“We’re here because we love football, and want to watch the games live,” said Mrs Markowski. “We think we can beat England by a couple of goals, and then get to the final.”

Many of the USA fans belong to the American Outlaws, a nationwide soccer fan club founded in Nebraska in 2007.

Its 30,000 members belong to 200 “chapters” across the USA and are known for bringing “maximum intensity” to their side’s games.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in