A passionate football fan spent £22,000 on a ‘trip of a lifetime’ to the World Cup but still couldn’t afford tickets for England matches. Ben Laing wanted to give his two sons something to remember for the rest of their lives. However, when he started looking at the ticket and hotel prices for the Three Lions matches, they were exorbitant.
Compromise for the Trip
He compromised and is now going to five matches involving several other different nations. Alfie and James are so excited. Alfie, 12, has even been allowed to leave school early for a flight to the United States for the tournament.
Ben Laing, 50, a scaffold product manager from Croxteth, Liverpool, said: “We’ve actually taken Alfie out of school but it’s definitely worth it. It’s probably cost £22,000 or so - but it will be a trip of a lifetime for the boys. That figure includes the cost of match tickets, hotels and flights.
“The boys have already learnt about the shooting of JFK and seen a statue of civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks here in Dallas. What a great history lesson for them both.”
History Lessons Along the Way
Ben added: “As we were at the Rosa Park statue, the Japanese team bus went by - how special is that?”
Ben said he looked at buying England tickets but they were just too expensive. He said: “We just couldn’t afford the England tickets but we’ve got five other World Cup games.
“We will be going up to Kansas as well to watch Algeria v Argentina and will definitely visit the England training camp and try see the team. Hopefully there will be some sort of training sessions that fans and the members of the public can attend.
“We are seeing Holland v Japan in Dallas, Algeria v Argentina in Kansas City, and South Africa v Czech Republic in Atlanta. Then we are heading to Toronto where my wife Denise will fly in to join us. We’ve got tickets for two games there; Panama v Croatia and Senegal v Iraq.”
Family of Liverpool Fans
The family are big Liverpool fans who were actually on the Kop when they won the Premier League trophy in 2025. They currently live in Dublin.
Alfie, whose favourite player England player is Morgan Rogers, said: “I told my mates at school I was coming and they were very jealous.” James, whose favourite player is Jude Bellingham, said: “We’re so lucky to be going to five games. I’m very excited.”
England's Tournament Start
England start their tournament in Dallas on Wednesday. They face Croatia in their opening group game before flying on to Boston and New York.
More than 20,000 England fans are expected to be at the Three Lions opening game but many of them will be ex-pats who live in the Dallas area or have flown in from other areas of the United States.
