World Cup: English supporters in Australia down but not defeated

Italy may have triumphed 2-1 over England, but English supporters in Australia say the team still has a fighting chance of advancing through the group stage and potentially winning the World Cup.

The fans packed the pub in central Sydney to cheer on the English team as it went against the Italian side in their World Cup opening game.

Many watchers were took a punt after the first half.

"I reckon we're going to be all right. Second half we'll blitz them," one fan told SBS.

But the final result did not favour the British.

"Today we're still in the challenge it doesn't really matter. Next few games we'll win the Group," another fan said.  

"We're English, we got heart, we challenge I tell ya. That's what we're going to do, we're going to challenge it."

And the defeat did not dampen celebrations among the English supporters.

Statistician Nate Silver, who correctly predicted the winner in all 50 states at the last US presidential election, says England still has a chance of advancing from Group D.

Sitting behind Costa Rica (66 per cent) and Italy (74 per cent), he calculates England is in with a 35 per cent chance.