RTÉ pundit and ex-pro Alan Cawley has said he aligns more with the true England fan than the ‘sadistic’ hater who tunes in to watch them get beaten, ahead of their crunch tie with Mexico in the early hours of tomorrow morning,

The national broadcaster revealed this week that as usual, England’s games have been the most popular with RTÉ viewers.

Asked for his take on the phenomenon, ex-League of Ireland midfielder Cawley described it as ‘a mixture of things’.

‘It’s that close connection we’ve always had with them, in terms of the amount of people that follow the Premier League here, and then you see a lot of those players representing England.

‘And the England national team is such a big story here and across the pond, particularly in the way the media followed them over there.’

Cawley, who began his professional career with spells at Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday, continued with a chuckle: ‘Then you do have maybe some of the sadistic ones, that follow them just to see them lose or see them get so close and then fall flat on their face.

‘Obviously our history with the country also would play a part in that.

‘But I for one would definitely follow the English story. I have no problem if they win and [no problem] seeing them doing well, and giving them praise. I spent four years in England, and the people were always very good to me.’

The pundit admitted the unsociable kick-off times of this World Cup have been ‘tough going’.

He added: ‘I did Netherlands Morocco on Monday, and I didn’t get home until 6 o’clock in the morning.

‘I was walking on Portmarnock Beach at half six in the morning, still wide awake, because we came off air at quarter past five, so that was a tough one.’

But the Sligo man continued that he has ‘absolutely no issues whatsoever’ with the disruption to his sleep, given the occasion.

‘I live for this. I worked so hard to get to this point, and I absolutely love the punditry, and love working on it, and it’s an honour, really.’

All games in the FIFA World Cup 2026 are live on RTÉ 2 and the RTÉ Player.