Molinsky, a professor of organisational behaviour and international management, treats football chanting as national expression rather than background noise. Scandinavian support, he argues, often favours collective precision, with Icelandic and Norwegian fans producing “thousands of people, one sound, perfectly synchronised”.
That style projects discipline and total participation. Nobody is merely watching; everyone is expected to join the same movement, beat and roar.
Brazilian support, by contrast, is presented as more layered. Molinsky recalls “drums, singing, moving” and “multiple rhythms happening at once”, a form of togetherness that leaves room for individual expression inside the crowd.
England’s support occupies a different space in the comparison. Older songs and familiar melodies connect travelling fans to football history, with chants often carrying memories from previous tournaments and generations.
That tradition could give the England end a recognisable identity against Mexico. The atmosphere may not be about perfect synchronisation or a constantly shifting rhythm, but about shared references: songs everyone knows, repeated loudly when the match demands emotional lift.
The wider comparison also includes Germany’s structured call-and-response chants, Argentina’s elaborate displays and Japan’s carefully timed encouragement. Each reflects a different idea of how a crowd should behave.
For Molinsky, those instinctive habits reveal cultural preferences. He calls cheering style “a Rorschach test or a fingerprint of your culture”, exposing what people value when they are “not even thinking about it”.
That does not make one support superior to another. It makes the knockout stage richer. England and Mexico will bring different football histories, but also different ways of expressing belonging.
When the reported last-16 meeting arrives, the first contest may begin before kick-off. The next storyline to watch will be whether England’s familiar songs can match the volume, colour and emotional force of Mexico’s support.