Thais love their football too, and are very knowledgeable, so the city of Bangkok has made quite an effort to showcase the World Cup and give everyone the opportunity to watch the games and have “sanouk” — fun!

With games kicking off between 8pm and 2am, there are numerous open-air venues to go to.

We chose to head to The Suan Lum Night Bazaar, near the famous Lumpini Park, to catch England’s opening group game against Paraguay.

There they have a huge beer garden with food stalls lining the edge, two giant screens to watch the action, a retractable roof to keep the rain off, and a fantastic sound system and stage where it turned out we would get much more than just the football to entertain us.

Table service is the norm in Thailand and we were offered a good choice of beers to sup during the game, including German imported beer — a nice touch.

I took the opportunity before kick-off to talk to some of the Thai punters and find out who they were supporting and why, and hopefully about the profile the World Cup enjoys in Thailand.

I was lucky enough to speak to two very informed fans, Mint and Stithorn. Mint, 20, was wearing a Paraguay shirt and told me she had studied there for a year in 2003 — quite a turn-up!

She expected Roque Santa Cruz to give England a hard time and thought Brazil would win overall.

Stithorn, 29, was supporting Sweden as he remembered their great run to the semi-finals in USA 1994 and had followed them ever since.

There is a deep reservoir of knowledge amongst Thai football fans and one can only wonder at the euphoria that would sweep the country were Thailand ever to fulfil their huge potential and qualify for the finals.

Back to the build-up, and by kick-off there were no spare tables to be had — then, no match!

We had to wait 25 minutes for the coverage to start as every Thai channel was showing a tribute to the King on the occasion of his 60th year on the throne.

Very frustrating but you can’t criticise anything to do with the monarch so tongues were bit and wait we did.

Finally, and to a loud cheer even from the Thai fans, the action flashed up and we discovered England were leading 1-0. I’d missed the goal, but at least we’d scored!

Half time brought some very energetic singing and dancing on the stage, and even some dry ice to add to the scene.

At the final whistle an even more impressive stage show commenced, with powerful singers belting out football-themed tunes and well-choreographed dancers strutting their stuff.

Certainly, World Cup Fever is alive and well in Thailand!

• Are you a Shropshire expat? We’d love to hear from you, and see your pictures. Please contact starfeatures@shropshirestar.co.uk