England’s WAGs shared kisses with the footballers after the national team stormed to victory against Croatia in a thrilling World Cup opening match in Dallas.
Thomas Tuchel’s side proved too strong for the world No.11 team, with talismanic striker Harry Kane scoring a brace before Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford added further goals.
Those cheering England to a 4–2 win at Dallas Stadium were later joined by several WAGs, who flew in from Miami where the players’ families are based.
Among them were John Stones’ wife Olivia, Ollie Watkins’ partner Ellie, and Bellingham’s girlfriend Ashlyn Castro, all of whom took to social media to share their experiences.
Megan Pickford embraced Dallas style, donning a denim cowboy hat featuring her husband’s shirt number.
At the final whistle, fans erupted into a rousing rendition of Football’s Coming Home and serenaded the team with Oasis’s Wonderwall.
Once the match ended, many players went into the stands to spend time with their wives and girlfriends.
Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Jordan Pickford were all pictured celebrating the victory with kisses for their partners.
However, it emerged that before the game there had been one worst-case scenario for the WAGs — they were forced to downsize their handbags to gain entry.
Strict regulations meant the team’s glamorous partners faced limits on the size of their purses.
Ellie Watkins, 30, was spotted carrying a black Chanel vanity case cross-body bag costing upwards of £5,000, while Mrs Pickford adhered to the rules with a white Lady Dior bag worth more than £2,500.
Harry Kane shared a celebratory kiss in the stands with his wife Kate after leading England to a thrilling 4-2 victory against Croatia
Goal scorer Jude Bellingham smooched his influencer girlfriend Ashlyn Castro after the win
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford packed on the PDA with his wife Megan after a triumphant start to England’s world cup efforts
Enthusiastic Megan Pickford cheered on the Three Lions as they continued to maintained a lead on Croatia with three goals to two
Ellie Alderson, Ollie Watkins’s wife, also had a hydration break with a friend as she watched her man take on Croatia
Among a sell-out crowd of 70,398 fans was John Irvin, 67, from Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire, who is biking across America and has tickets to all the group games. He said: ‘We won, good game, but we do make it hard for ourselves.
‘But second half we were unstoppable. Now it’s back on the bike and on to the next one.’
Mr Irvin, who has spent £25,000 on his month-long trip, said: ‘I’ve left the wife at home, closed my catering business and going to all the England group ones and, if we make the final, that one as well.’
Daniel Marland, 18, a Lancaster University student from Preston, said: ‘It was an incredibly positive result. I am confident we will win it all.’ His father John, 53, added: ‘The most important thing is the win, which puts us in a great position for the next group games.’
Manchester City fan Mike Andrews, 60, a nursery manager from Newquay, Cornwall, who was also at the Dallas game, said: ‘A win is massive to start the tournament. This was our biggest group game test and now we’ve already almost qualified. There’s no reason we can’t go all the way.’
Southend fan James Wombwell, 50, a finance professional from Par in Cornwall, said: ‘It’s the perfect start for us. Croatia are a tough team so it’s a real confidence boost.’
Ricky Wiseman, 39, from London, who runs a youth football club and was with sons RJ, eight, and Charlie, ten, said: ‘We got what we deserved. It should have been more. It’s coming home!’
Back on home turf, employers across the country prepared for ‘Hangover Thursday’ as an estimated 16million watched at home and in pubs – drinking some 24million pints of beer.
The £355million blowout is likely to have brought about Britain’s largest TV audience for two years.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer And Pub Association, said: ‘We anticipated an extra five million pints being pulled in pubs for England’s first game as we all cheer on the team, in a massive boost for the sector.’
Meanwhile, attendance platform BrightHR – which monitors absence among more than a million employees at over 50,000 UK companies – said sickness rates would double today if the trend from Euro 2024 was repeated.
Chief executive Alan Price said: ‘Employers are bracing for “Hangover Thursday” and we predict a sharp rise in absenteeism due to many fans’ sore heads.’
Fans were in a jubilant mood as they began arriving hours before kick-off at the 80,000-capacity Dallas Stadium in Arlington. It is 20 miles west of downtown Dallas, where hundreds took the chance to visit the Grassy Knoll and scene of JFK’s assassination.
Pubs near the venue were busy from 9am as Three Lions supporters in white or red shirts and cowboy hats descended. With pints of beer in some of the surrounding bars costing £5 many had a drink before going into the stadium, where Stella Artois was being sold for £13.40. To combat such high prices, many England and Croatia fans stopped off at supermarkets and fast-food joints to stock up.
There was also a friendly rivalry with the thousands of Croatian fans who have flocked to Texas for the showdown. The old foes put England out of the 2018 World Cup at the semi-final stage.
At one pub outside the ground, a crowd hung up a St George’s flag and was singing along to Oasis songs – interspersed with ‘Ingerland, Ingerland, Ingerland’. Even though it was only 11am, the bar was doing a roaring trade.
Charlotte Tate, manager at The Londoner, told the Daily Mail: ‘We have a few pubs across Dallas and it’s been going nuts. Business has been great and everyone is having a fabulous time.’
Engineer Courtenay Claussnitzer, 55, originally from London, was at the bar with his son Miles, 16, having flown in from Atlanta where they live. They paid $1,100 (£827) for each ticket. Miles said: ‘I’m so excited, Dad is having a beer but I’m too young to drink. The atmosphere is brilliant.’
Croatia were England’s biggest challenge of their three Group L rivals. They play Ghana in Boston next Tuesday and Panama in New Jersey on June 27.
Last night the squad flew straight back to their base in Kansas City.
And as the men brought home a win after their first World Cup match, the squad’s WAGs supported from the stands, cheering them on.
Megan Pickford cheered after England score their first goal against Croatia before they stormed to victory against the Balkan side
The glamorous WAG was all smiles as the Three Lions scored their third goal against Croatia in what has so far been a tense match
Megan Pickford stands up as Kate Kane remains seated as the Three Lions take on Croatia
Jordan Pickford’s wife goes to sit back down after cheering on the Three Lions
Megan Pickford, the wife of Jordan Pickford, held a drink in the stands ahead of tonight’s match in Arlington. She eagerly cheered on the Three Lions squad
Jude Bellingham’s influencer girlfriend Ashlyn Castro carefully walked through the stands in Dallas proudly supporting her partner by wearing a Three Lions shirt
While Megan clapped from the Arlington stands, others took to Instagram to share their hydration breaks as their husbands and boyfriends played in the Texan heat.
Wearing a low-cut red Three Lions kit top, Ollie Watkins’ influencer wife, Ellie Alderson, held a tall drink in her hand as she posed alongside a friend.
Jude‘s girlfriend, Ashlyn, was also seen with two drinks in hand as she carefully walked to her seat, wearing a camouflage skirt and an England top.
She looked effortlessly glamorous as her long black hair fell over her shoulders, coupled with a neutral makeup look.
Her long blonde tresses draped over her shoulders as she kept it simple with a white vest, denim bottoms and brown sunglasses with a drink in hand.
It comes as she salvaged a last-minute outfit for England’s first World Cup 2026 match, sharing her fashion disaster mere hours before the face-off.
Taking to Instagram, Megan told fans she was considering borrowing her son’s Arlo’s England shirt after losing her suitcase.
But while filming a hilarious Instagram clip with Ollie’s wife Ellie, she seemed to have swapped the top for a classic white outfit.
The WAGS travelled to the US for England’s first group game against Croatia, and have kicked off the 2026 campaign in style.
And Ellie was ready to cheer on her partner in the tournament, sporting a low-cut England shirt and heels as both she and Megan strutted out of their hotel.
Like many WAGs, it seemed the mother-of-three had brought some of her designer accessories, with her mini Birkin bag in view on her hotel bed.
Strict regulation means the team’s glamorous wives and girlfriends face restrictions on how big their handbags can be.
And they have had to dramatically downsize the designer purse collections they planned to take to the US, Canada and Mexico this summer.
Ellie Watkins, wife of Aston Villa striker Ollie, told her TikTok followers: ‘I’ve been using the measuring tape for the last two weeks.’
And goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s wife Megan – who was filmed measuring bags during a shopping trip to Selfridges – joked on social media: ‘We’re going to make sandwich bags happen. I even know the offside rule, handbag edition.’
The directives state that clear bags must not exceed 12in by 12in, while non-clear bags are limited to 4.5in by 6.5in.
This allows security staff to quickly inspect belongings as the supporters enter stadiums.
In Dallas for England’s game against Croatia last night, Mrs Watkins, 30, was spotted in the crowd wearing a black Chanel vanity case cross-body bag, costing upwards of £5,000.
Mrs Pickford also played by the rules, sporting a white Lady Dior bag worth more than £2,500.
Yesterday, the 30-year-old travelled to the US carrying a £20,000 pink-and-white Hermes Birkin which would have been too large to take into the stands. Despite the mother-of-three’s weeks of outfit planning, she revealed her ‘worst horror story’ had happened just hours before the game – her luggage failed to arrive.
She was noticeably without an England jersey at last night’s game, instead wearing a white vest top and a cowboy hat which featured the number ‘1’, a nod to her husband Jordan’s position.
Mrs Pickford recently revealed that her ‘dream is to bring back the WAG era’ of the 2006 World Cup, which saw Victoria Beckham, Coleen Rooney and Cheryl Tweedy become the centre of attention as they cheered on their other halves
in Germany.
She added of this summer’s competition: ‘I’m not coming home without my husband and a trophy.’
Mrs Pickford and Mrs Watkins were joined by other England WAGs yesterday, including Kate Kane, 33 – wife of Harry – who took a £2,000 Chanel cross-body phone case to the fixture. Influencer Ashlyn Castro, 27, was also in the family box.
She wore a camo-print mini skirt and her boyfriend Jude Bellingham’s shirt, carefully making her way to her seat while carrying drinks in both hands.
Ashlyn Castro remains stoic as she watches the Three Lions game against Croatia
The American influencer holds up her mobile phone to capture moments of England’s opening World Cup match
American Ms Castro sported a casual look as she prepared to support her partner Jude, standing with Bellingham’s mother Denise
Megan claps with the crowd as she awaited her goalkeeper husband to take to the pitch this evening
Ellie Alderson, Ollie Watkins’s wife sported a red England top and black capris as she awaited to watch the highly-anticipated World Cup match
This is not Megan’s first rodeo! Jordan Pickford’s wife has previously supported him in several major international games
Megan looked low-key but glamorous as she keenly awaited her partner to face-off with Croatia
Harry Kane’s wife Kate claps from the stands as England continue their lead against Croatia, four goals to two
Kate, whose husband secured two goals for Tuchel’s side, remains calm as she watched the English men take to the pitch
She captioned the post: ‘Arrived in America… my suitcase did not. Can I wear my seven-year-old’s shirt for the game tonight or not.’
Megan also shared a video on TikTok about the drama, with the caption: ‘My top 5 horror stories…
‘Arriving in America for the World Cup. My suitcase did not arrive. Now sharing my seven-year-old’s kit. My husband plays tonight. The airline hasn’t got back with when my case will come.’
Megan, an Instagram star who has assumed a ‘mother hen’ status with other WAGS, often organising pre-match parties, said she would be rushing to Boots or TJ Maxx to buy a replacement pair of jeans.
She said: ‘I’m in Dallas. I asked the taxi driver where I could get some jeans, he said they have a Bill’s boots or a TJ Maxx.’
She was supported by Ellie, who described it as her ‘worst nightmare’, adding: ‘Don’t worry I’ve got three suitcases full, coming to the rescue.’
Meanwhile, Kate Kane, wife of Harry Kane, made sure her bag fit the requirements by wearing a £2,000 Chanel crossbody phone case bag, posting snaps of herself in a chic denim dress ahead of the match.
Bukayo Saka’s fiancée, Tolami Benson, joined in on the World Cup fashion show, sporting a double denim co-ord with hints of red on her phone case, hat and thin skirt belt.
John Stones’ glamorous wife, Olivia, announced she was ‘ready for the half-time show’ on Instagram, sporting a red Three Lions top and a small beige clutch.
But in keeping with Dallas-style, she wore a pair of dark denim shorts and brown cowboy boots as her long brown tresses flowed over her shoulders.
She topped off the look, which she shared on her Instagram story, with a pair of slim sunglasses.
Ready to cheer on her partner in the tournament, Ellie sported a low-cut England shirt and heels as she and Megan strutted out of their hotel
Jordan Pickford’s wife Megan salvaged together a last-minute outfit for England’s first World Cup match, as she and Ollie Watkins’s spouse led the WAGs heading to the stadium in Dallas
Mere hours before they were due to head to the stadium, Megan shared that she was considering borrowing her son’s England shirt, after losing her suitcase
But while filming a hilarious Instagram clip with Ollie’s wife Ellie, Megan seemed to have swapped the top for a classic white outfit
Bukayo Saka’s fiancée Tolami Benson headed to the match in a low-cut denim crop top
Tolami showcased her dark jeans on Instagram, emblazoned with a Lion and the number eight and seven – which is Saka’s shirt number for Arsenal
Kate Kane, wife of Harry Kane, made sure her bag fit the requirements by wearing a £2,000 Chanel crossbody phone case bag, posting snaps of herself in a chic denim dress
Kate had jetted to the US to support the England captain, who is expected to be in the starting lineup for the Three Lions opening match against Croatia
Kate expressed her support on Instagram with a picture of the squad alongside the caption: ‘Let’s goooooo’
John Stones’ wife Olivia proudly supported the star in her own England shirt, a denim shorts and cowboy boots
Olivia was all smiles as she prepared to watch her partner, John Stones, represent England on the world stage
The WAGs touched down in Dallas on Wednesday, joining a buzzing atmosphere ahead of Thomas Tuchel’s side kicking off their campaign.
Their arrival came just hours after England fans were turfed out of local pubs during a wild night of partying for travelling supporters.
An estimated 16 million people are set to watch the Three Lions on ITV at home and in pubs, drinking some 24 million pints of beer, leading to fears of ‘hangover Thursday’ and a raft of sickies.
The £355million big match blowout is likely to have been Britain’s biggest TV audience for two years.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: ‘We anticipated an extra five million pints being pulled in pubs for England’s first game as we all cheer on the team, in a massive boost for the sector.’
BrightHR, which monitors absence among over a million employees at over 50,000 UK companies, said sickness rates would double today (THU) if the trend from Euro 2024 was repeated.
Chief executive Alan Price said: ‘Employers are bracing for ‘Hangover Thursday’ and we predict a sharp rise in absenteeism due to many fans’ sore heads.’
In the sweltering Texas heat, fans were in a jubilant mood as they began arriving hours before kick-off at the space-age Dallas Stadium in Arlington.
It comes after local police went into the Londoner Pub in Dallas, well before the 2 am closing time, to move fans on.
And it wasn’t just the Texan watering holes being overrun by England fans, as they also took over the rodeo on Tuesday.
Ellie found time to squeeze in a last-minute blow dry before the match
The proud wife also shared a glimpse at her pre-match beauty regime, which included pricey products from HUDA Beauty and rhode
Megan also shared a video on TikTok about the drama, with the caption: ‘My top 5 horror stories…’
Dozens of die-hard Three Lions fans caught the last flight out of London on Tuesday to make tonight’s opening game against Croatia.
England’s Group L campaign starts with a tricky assignment in Arlington, with their opponents ranked 11th in the world. They defeated the Three Lions in the semi-finals of the 2018 tournament in Russia.
Pubs near the Dallas Stadium were busy from 9am local time this morning as an army of some 20,000 England supporters clad in white or red shirts and cowboy hats descended on the town.
With pints of beer in some of the surrounding bars costing £5 – even cheaper than London – many fans were taking the opportunity to have a drink before going into the giant stadium where bars were selling Stella Artois for £13.40.
There was a friendly rivalry with the thousands of Croatian fans who had flocked to Texas for the showdown.
The old foes put England out of the 2018 World Cup in the semi-finals. Their 40-year-old diminutive talisman Luka Modric was England’s tormentor in the side which beat the Three Lions 2-1, and their fans were wearing his red and white chequered number 10 shirt.
At another branch of The Londoner pub, a few minutes’ walk from the ground, a boisterous crowd hung a St George’s flag up in the bar and were singing along to Oasis classics, occasionally interspersed with ‘Ingerland, Ingerland, Ingerland’.
Even though it was only 11am, the bar was doing a roaring trade with pints of lager and Guinness being sunk as staff were rushed off their feet.
Engineer Courtenay Claussnitzer, 55, originally from London, was at the pub with his son Miles, 16, and they had flown in from Atlanta, where they live. They had paid $1100 for each ticket.
Miles said: ‘I’m so excited, Dad is having a beer, but I’m too young to drink. The atmosphere is brilliant, and being with the fans is amazing.’
In the muggy 33 °C heat, England supporters sang Sweet Caroline and Football’s Coming Home as they marched to the stadium, brimming with confidence that this could finally be England’s time.
It is 60 years next month since captain Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet trophy at Wembley in 1966, the only time England has ever won the tournament.
Croatia were England’s biggest challenge of their three Group L qualifiers. Thomas Tuchel’s squad play Ghana in Boston next Tuesday, then Panama in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Saturday, June 27.
Last night the squad flew straight back to their training base in Kansas City for five days of rest and preparation for the clash with the Ghana team, known as the ‘Black Stars’.
At The Londoner, there was also sporadic chanting of “Keir Starmer is a xxxxxx’ which has been outlawed by FIFA.
Charlotte Tate, manager of The Londoner, told the Daily Mail: ’We have a few pubs across Dallas called The Londoner, and it’s been going nuts the last few days.
‘We ran out of bottled beer at the downtown Dallas venue, and then the barrels went as well, but we’ve been onto our vendors, and we are going to get more in.
‘Business has been great, and everyone is having a fabulous time, and I want to let everyone know we won’t be running out of beer.
England fans travelled from far and wide and arrived in the US in high spirits
‘It’s been boisterous, but there hasn’t been any bad behaviour. We have security on the door, and some of the furniture has been damaged, and the plants have had it, but nothing serious.
‘The numbers have been overwhelming, but nothing we can handle. We have a capacity of 200, but with the outdoor space, we can do 240.
‘This morning when we opened up at 10amhere was a huge line of people, and we are doing a one in one out policy.
‘I’m actually going to the game as well, one of our suppliers has got me a ticket. I know it will be a tough game, but we will win. I’m nervous but confident.’
