An England fan has spent his £40,000 house deposit on taking his father to watch the Three Lions at the World Cup. Jack Goodwin, 34, from Chichester in West Sussex, pre-booked hotels, flights, and tickets for every possible England game up to the final in New Jersey on July 19.
Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
Speaking to the Press Association, Mr Goodwin said: "We've been to New York, we've seen the World Cup and we're going to see us bring it home. It's a simple equation." He described the trip as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" and noted that he spent approximately £4,000 on a single ticket to the final.
Mr Goodwin and his father, whose name was not disclosed, have traveled to Dallas, Boston, New York, and Atlanta, and plan to continue through the knockout stages. "Me and my dad, we've been here since Dallas. We've done Dallas, Boston, New York, arrived in Atlanta… and we're going all the way to the final and we're going to watch us win the World Cup," he said.
Confidence in England
Ahead of England's round of 16 match against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Atlanta, Mr Goodwin predicted a 4-0 victory and expressed excitement about a potential quarter-final against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium, calling it "the dream game of all games, the creme of the creme."
A Stoke City fan, Mr Goodwin admitted he was "sweating" when Panama held England to a 0-0 draw at half-time in their final group game. "We've pre-booked everything now to the final – hotels, tickets, everything sorted. We were sweating because we got all our tickets through the FIFA ballot – if we didn't top the group, all of our tickets would have become invalid."
Financial sacrifice
Mr Goodwin explained that his father's confidence led them to book flights to Atlanta weeks in advance. "We booked them a few weeks ago, so we were pretty confident. I mean, my dad was pretty confident, so I went with his confidence."
When asked about the cost, Mr Goodwin said: "How long's a piece of string? A good £40,000." He emphasized that while his tickets were at face value, they were still "mega expensive." He added: "Well, I've got no kids, I've got no wife, so why not? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Mr Goodwin described the cost of World Cup final tickets as a "joke." He said: "For the group games… I think it was around 350 dollars. We were in the Gods. But we've got category one tickets now for the next few games, and they were 600 dollars face value. The ticket for the final, which is a joke, was through the England Supporters Club. Face value for category two was 8,000 Australian dollars, so about £4,000."
He concluded: "We've met a lot of people that did ballots and didn't get tickets so we're extremely lucky to be here to be honest."
