'Beer everywhere': World Cup fever has gripped the Wimbledon locker room as players watch penalty shootouts in local bars
- World Cup fever has gripped the Wimbledon Championships and the England team, in particular, is the talk of the locker room.
- French player Gaël Monfils went to a local pub to watch England's successful penalty shootout against Colombia earlier this week, and said there was beer everywhere.
- Injured Briton Laura Robson sung the "Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)" for two and a half hours, until her tennis friend Madison Keys, an American, became an England fan.
- The England soccer team plays Sweden in a crucial World Cup quarterfinal clash on Saturday.
- Read all of Business Insider's World Cup coverage here.
World Cup fever has gripped the Wimbledon Championships and the progression of the England national soccer team has been the talk of the locker room.
Wimbledon, the third tennis major of the calendar year, began on Monday, July 2 and has coincided with the knockout rounds of the World Cup - the biggest prize in international soccer.
England beat Tunisia, Panama, and Colombia to earn its spot in Saturday's quarterfinal clash against Sweden - leaving English tennis player Kyle Edmund and his Swedish coach Fredrik Rosengren in an awkward position.
Edmund, the top-ranked British player since March, beat Australia's Alex Bolt on Tuesday and must now take on Bradley Klahn in the Round of 64, on Thursday.
Should Edmund win, his fourth-round match could potentially overlap with England's must-win clash against Sweden at 3 p.m. BST (10 a.m. ET) in the Cosmos Arena in Samara, Russia, on Saturday.
Sweden knocked out Switzerland to meet England this weekend, and nobody at Wimbledon would have been more disappointed than reigning and defending men's champion Roger Federer.
"I felt it's an opportunity missed," the Swiss 36-year-old said, according to the BBC. "We had our chance against Sweden. In the end, they were maybe a little bit better. We didn't create enough chances."
England won its Round of 16 match against Colombia after a nail-biting and nerve-wracking penalty shootout - an event French tennis player Gaël Monfils watched in a local pub. He said there was beer everywhere.
"I watched the shootout," Monfils said. "I was in the restaurant and saw on the phone it was the shootout, and I saw a pub, so I just went in and watched it.
"Unbelievable. Crazy, crazy! I can't describe it. I was scared to have my phone. It was jumping, screaming. Everything. Beers, everything. It was great."
Monfils isn't the only non-English tennis player to become spellbound by the Three Lions team as it pursues World Cup glory.
British tennis player Laura Robson may be injured and unable to participate at Wimbledon, but her enthusiasm for the World Cup - and the England national team in particular - has rubbed off on American athlete Madison Keys.
"She was singing the 'it's coming home' song constantly for two-and-a-half hours," Keys claimed. "I was actually into it at the end. Now I'm cheering for England."
