THE eyes of the nation will be fixed on television screens this afternoon hoping England can make it to their first World Cup semi-final in 28 years, but one Poole family will be cheering for a different outcome.

David Hiljemark, who lives in Upton, has ensured his wife, Zoe, and three children will be supporting Sweden in this afternoon’s crunch match.

He also has a distant family connection to the Sweden squad in the form of second cousin Oscar Hiljemark, who could feature in the match against England.

Despite living in England for around 35 years, David said there were no doubts about who he will be supporting when the sides face off.

“The last time the teams met at the World Cup was in 2006 and they drew 2-2,” David said.

“It doesn’t happen very often that they play each other, but I only have one allegiance. I think it will be a really tight match. The Sweden side set up in a very compact way that is hard to break down. I don’t think there will be many goals and it will probably be a very nervy game.”

David has organised a party at his house for the game, which kicks off at 3pm.

There are set to be plenty of England fans at the get together, but David stressed his family will all be backing Sweden.

He said: “With the kids being half Swedish and half English they naturally go towards the Swedish side and Zoe doesn’t mind supporting Sweden.

“It has certainly gone a bit crazy this week and there has been a lot of banter going back and forward at work,” David added.

“All my relatives are still back in Sweden. The euphoria over in Sweden is similar to how it has been here. Everyone is really up for it and looking forward to the game.”

After narrowly beating Switzerland on Tuesday by a single goal from Emil Forsberg, David predicted a repeat outcome today.

David said: “I would say England have had relatively low grade opposition so far and they only just squeezed past Colombia. I think they will find us really hard to break down. It might be more suited to England than the game against Colombia, but it should be a good match with only a few chances.”