England and Wales football fans have been gearing up for their World Cup crunch match tonight which has been dubbed the “Battle of Britain”.
The home nations are set to go head to head in a heart-stopping final match in Group B on Tuesday night.
Excited crowds began gathering in pubs across Britain for a pre match pint hours before kick-off, rooting for Gareth Southgate and Rob Page's teams.
Supporters were also seen raising a glass early in the day at the Three Lions Red Lion Pub & Restaurant in Doha, which has become a popular boozer for Brits in Qatar.
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Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)England and Wales will meet at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium for their final group B fixture, with hoards of supporters having made the trip and millions more watching back home.
But the atmosphere is set to intensify in the build up to the World Cup clash, with kickoff at 8pm and everything to play for.
The Three Lions currently top the group and need just a point to guarantee their progress to the knockout stages.
While Wales must win and hope for a favourable result between Iran and the USA.
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Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)Last week, England erupted in jubilant celebrations as the team won its opening World Cup match against Iran.
Fans hope to celebrate again tonight after being left disappointed by the 0-0 result against the USA on Friday.
England fan Mick Martin, from Aylesbury, said Wales are a “wounded animal”.
The 62-year-old added: “We should be good enough.
Image:
Getty Images)If we’re not good enough to beat Wales or get a good result against Wales we really shouldn’t be here, should we?”
Wales have made an emotional return to the men's FIFA World Cup after 64 years.
The team opened with a 1-1 draw against the USA thanks to a late penalty by captain Gareth Bale.
Now they need a win against their neighbours England to stay alive in Qatar.
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Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)Tony Rogers and his three friends were the only Welsh supporters in the Red Lion pub, surrounded by an ever-growing sea of England fans.
“We’ve got to up our game,” the 58-year-old said.
“After the Iran match we were all quite down. We just want to come away from here having done something.”
England remains in good shape to advance and are on the verge of qualifying for the last 16 in the football showcase.
A win against Wales would see them qualify as group winners and a draw will be good enough for the team to go through in second place.
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Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)For England to get knocked out of Group B altogether, Wales would have to beat them 4-0, and Iran would have to beat the USA.
Meanwhile Wales' chances of getting through to the last 16 suffered a huge blow on Friday when they lost 2-0 to Iran, compared to England's 6-2 victory against the team.
It means they now need to beat England by four goals or more to go through to the knockout stages of the World Cup.
But their captain Bale, who also plays as a winger for Los Angeles FC, said there is "no reason" why Wales can't spring World Cup shock against England.
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Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)"Everyone has weaknesses. We’ve done our homework," he said.
"England are a very good team. They are one of the favourites to win the tournament. We are under no illusions that it will be hard.
"There’s been a few shocks in the tournament already and there’s no reason why we can’t do the same.”
A victory from Wales would not be the first time the team has taken the world by surprise.
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Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)The Dragons lost 2-1 to England in the group stage of the 2016 European Championships, but went on to reach the semifinals.
While England crashed out of the championship in the round of 16 after losing to Iceland.
Downing Street said Rishi Sunak would be supporting England, but hoped both teams could advance “as far as possible” in the competition.
Fans from both nations spoke of their positive experience of the tournament so far, with some saying it had “exceeded” their expectations.
Image:
PA)Mike Ritter, from London, said his experience of the World Cup has been better than expected although joked the “football has been worse” after watching England’s 0-0 draw with USA.
The 36-year-old, who is attending his fourth World Cup and arrived on a shuttle flight from Dubai, said: “We landed at 10am this morning and fly back at seven tomorrow morning.
"Between 3am and 7am there’s not a lot to do, but hopefully it’s a good result and we don’t really care.”
On what England boss Gareth Southgate should do against Wales, Mr Ritter replied: “Play Phil Foden. He should have come on at half-time against the States, so I think it’s important he gets a game today.”
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Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror)Alistair Banham, 67, from Buckinghamshire, added: “We got here knowing it’d be different to other World Cups and we adjusted to that and it has exceeded my expectations and it’s been really, really good – great fans, camaraderie, no trouble, you can find a beer, get to the grounds.”
While Wales fan Steve Pope, 53, said he believed a 4-0 win was possible against England.
“Everyone is being very friendly, but they’ve only had one pint so far," he said.
“I think we could beat them 4-0 but I’ll take a 1-0. If we get a good result our plan is to hop on the Metro and have a good singalong and then party all night.
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PA)“If we don’t, it’ll be a case of jumping in an Uber and going back to the apartment to cry.”
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the UK’s football policing lead, said there had been no arrests or incidents in the opening nine days of the tournament and praised England and Wales fans for their "exemplary" behaviour.
He said the lack of trouble at the Qatar World Cup, which he believed was in large part due to alcohol being less available, was a sign that ministers should resist calls to ease restrictions on drinking in UK football grounds.
