Britain will grind to a collective halt this evening as 15 million television viewers retire to their sofas for the opening game of England’s World Cup campaign against the United States, amid signs of a football-driven spending spree \u201d\u201c and surprisingly heartfelt Anglo-American sporting rancour.<\/p>\n
Kick-off at the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenberg between the two sides will presage predicted additional retail sales of nearly \u00c2\u00a31bn if Fabio Capello’s team manage to progress into the knock-out stage of the tournament, providing the economy with a badly-needed boost which could rise to \u00c2\u00a32.01bn of extra spending if England reach the final.<\/p>\n
It is accompanied by an outbreak of unabashed patriotism, both for and against England, as an estimated three million St George Cross flags, most of them manufactured in China, are draped from windows and clipped to cars.<\/p>\n