When Christian Sinibaldi turned up at homes across England to photograph fans watching the World Cup, he was overwhelmed by every nationality’s hospitality. “And their food,” he says. “I’ve eaten a lot of crisps and beer, but also the traditional Brazilian dish of feijoada in north London, Mexican quesadillas and guacamole in Putney, and a lovely Moroccan tagine cooked on the barbecue in Letchworth.”

Sinibaldi sat with a fixed camera near the television screen and never asked anyone to pose: he didn’t need to. “Pretty much as soon as the match got under way, they forgot I was there.” He enjoyed watching the tension build. “Very few people left the room or changed positions throughout the game. They were glued to their chairs.”

It does mean that Sinibaldi has not watched any matches himself, because he has been looking the wrong way. “But I could nearly always tell when a goal was coming – I could see it in their faces.” There’s a reason he made time for the project this year: as an Italian, it’s one way of dealing with the fact his home side didn’t make the cut.

England 6 Panama 1

Cooper family, Milnrow, Rochdale, 24 June

Timing is everything at Rick and Jo Cooper’s house, where the family are on countdown for England’s second match of the tournament, against Panama. With excited shouts of “Half an hour to kick-off” drifting in from the garden, the smell of burgers on the barbecue waft into the front room where the floor is strewn with balloons, inflatable clappers and St George’s flags.

The country is in the early grips of a heatwave and little do the Coopers – grandmother Alison, 72, uncle Malc, 44, Rick and wife Jo, both 41, and their sons, Leo, eight, and Aaron, five – know that the sunshine will not be the only turn-up for England.

Stones’ header puts England 1-0 up eight minutes in. “I missed it!” says Rick, distracted by Aaron walking in with lunch. But no one misses goals two, three, four or five – including two Harry Kane penalties – all before half-time. “This is unbelievable!” Rick shouts. “Football’s coming home.” The noise from the boys’ vuvuzelas is deafening.

“The boys were too little for Brazil 2014,” says Rick, a Manchester United season ticket holder, “so I’m enjoying watching this one with them. I was obsessed with skiing as a kid. But France 98, where Beckham got sent off, that really got me into football and I’m mad for it now.”

His brother Malc says, “You always have that hope with England, and it’s always been dashed. I remember Gazza with the tears at Italia 90, watching that with my late dad. And Maradona’s hand of God in 86, watching that on holiday in Torquay, around a tiny black-and-white TV. The injustice of it. But we’re perennial optimists, and with this young team, there’s a different mentality.”

Their mother, Alison, is the only one who saw England triumph in 66. She says, “The country couldn’t believe it. My late husband, Henry, he loved the game. He always said: ‘If they play football, they’ll murder ’em.’ He’d have been thrilled with this one.”

Brazil 1 Switzerland 1

Kiki Machado and friends, Crouch End, London, 17 June

Cristina “Kiki” Machado’s house is a sight, and sound, to behold during the Brazil v Switzerland game, what with the yells of the 30 people squeezed into the living room, the guitar music from Kiki’s tenant Caco Barros (at front, glass in hand) and the green-and-yellow stars chalked on the pavement outside. “We drew six,” says Kiki (in hat), “because Brazil has won five times – we drew one more for luck.”

Kiki’s living room is packed out with her “north London family”, friends collected over 20 years in this country, from Brazil, England, Lithuania, Serbia and Italy. When she arrived, her godmother gave her the number of her best friend’s daughter, Luciana, who was living in London. She never called, but seven years later they met by chance in the local library at a singalong for their children.

“My family in Brazil said people aren’t celebrating there the way we are,” Kiki says. “It’s natural when you’re away from your country to find your people and cheer together.” She remembers as a child how everything stopped during a World Cup game, so when Martha asked if she could come home from school early for the match, she said, “Of course. Your teacher will understand.”

After their 7-1 defeat by Germany in 2014, Brazilians are approaching this World Cup with trepidation. “I’m in defence mode,” says Janaína Campoy, 44 (on right, wearing glasses). “That game was a tragedy. It came just as things were going badly for us politically and economically. We lost confidence as a nation.”

The self-esteem of an entire country seems a lot to put on 11 men, but they don’t let them down. After the match, they party until midnight, because that’s the Brazilian way to celebrate a draw. “When we won in 2002, that party lasted 24 hours,” Kiki says. “The hangover lasted a week.”

Senegal 2 Japan 2

Adama Kande and friends, Ancoats, Manchester, 24 June

The music and the chat don’t stop at Adama Kande’s city centre flat. Adama, 44 (in front of picture), a musician, came to the UK from south Senegal in 2008 and the green, red and yellow of his home country is all around his living room: on flags, posters and djembe drums.

Watching with his partner Neilum Singh, 43 (second from right), and friends Iain Dixon (far right), 40, and Lamin Conteh, 42 (far left), Adama cannot hide his excitement. “Senegal is like Brazil,” he says. “Everyone plays football. When I was a boy, my neighbour was manager of the local team. He taught me, too – I’m a good player.”

An early goal from Senegal superstar Sadio Mané sends them wild: the music and chants get louder, and the energy soars. When Japan equalise, Lamin booms: “It’s game on. Game on.” But when Japan equalise a second time, the mood deflates.

“I wanted more,” Adama admits at full time. “They got the opportunity to win, but there were a few mistakes. They need to change tactics now.”

For him, the World Cup couldn’t get much sweeter than 2002, when Senegal beat title holders France in the first game and reached the quarter-finals. He watched back home, crowded around a neighbour’s TV. “When Papa (Bouba Diop) pushed that ball inside, it felt as if we could beat anybody.”

Neilum agrees: “They love their sport in Senegal. Because people have limited access to technology, they’re forced to share a TV, sometimes outside, sometimes in a cinema. Watching football with West Africans is electric – it’s just fire.”

Morocco 0 Iran 1

Essakhi family, Letchworth, 15 June

Before most Morocco matches, Mohammed Essakhi, 54 (in cap), finds himself in the kitchen cooking nibbles for friends coming over. He’s a school head chef and caterer, focusing on Moroccan and Spanish food. For this game, his starters include hummus, tzatziki and stuffed peppers. The barbecue comes after, “because when there’s a football match on, we want to watch it”.

Balbair Chahal, 42 (pictured front left), works with Mohammed at the school; Phil Moore, 56, and Amanda Brosnan, 50 (centre), are friends and fellow Leicester City supporters. They watch the game with Mohammed’s wife, Rosalind, 56, his nephew, Kaeran Duff, 30, his son, Nizar, 16, who is training with Watford and hopes to go pro, and his daughter, Azza, 22 (far right).

The 1-0 loss to Iran is “a bit of a let-down”, because the team played well, says Mohammed. Azza points to an important difference: “Footballers in England are so famous – it’s good to see people from your own background compete on the same platform.”

“I would love Morocco to win,” Mohammed says, “but realistically, it’s not going to happen. What would really make me proud is seeing Morocco host the World Cup. We’ve been asking for about 20 years.” His best football memory is the 3-1 victory against Portugal in 1986: “I was still living in Casablanca, and I remember youngsters celebrating in the street. Nobody thought it would be possible. At that time, Africa had only two teams that had qualified.”

Azza, who recently graduated, is working in Morrisons, and is delighted to wear her Morocco shirt to work when the team play Portugal a few days later. “It was to raise money for Clic Sargent [a cancer charity for young people]; we pay a pound to wear the team shirt. It was a real conversation starter. That’s what I love about the World Cup: the unity. No matter what happens or what team you support, there’s a conversation you can have with anybody.”

Japan 2 Colombia 1

Nishi family, Acton, London, 19 June

Naohiko Nishi (on right) and his eight-year-old son Atsuhiko (next to him) have no special food or drink, hang no flags, have no good-luck rituals. What they do have is a Japanese guidebook to the World Cup, with detailed information about every player: how old they are, what kind of a player. This is consulted very regularly.

Today the Nishis – Naohiko and his wife Akiko (far right), their sons Atsuhiko, eight, and Takahiko, six (front right) – are watching the game with their friends Hiro and Shiho (on left), and their children Masa, 12 (on floor), and Iroha, nine (with giraffe). The children are keen footballers: Masa, Atsuhiko and Takahiko all play at the nearby Football Samurai Academy. Atsuhiko plays football three days a week, and says he hopes to play for Japan when he’s older. For him, the best moment of this game is Shinji Kagawa’s penalty, secured in the game’s sixth minute after a handball from Carlos Sánchez: “It was kind of scary before he took it – we were very surprised that we won.”

His father agrees: manager Akira Nishino was appointed just two months before the World Cup began. “To be honest, Colombia is much better than Japan. They got a red card, which was so lucky for us. Winning this match was a great moment - because in the 2014 World Cup, Japan didn’t get a good result.” Though they were the first team to qualify, Japan failed to make it out of the group stages.

For Naohiko, the joy of this competition has been watching Japan improve their standing on the world stage. “Japan didn’t join the World Cup until 1998. Only some of them played in Europe at the time - whereas now almost all the Japanese players play for Europe. The quality has got much better and their confidence has increased.”

The win against Colombia, and a subsequent draw against Senegal, will be hard to beat, though Naohiko still holds dear his memories of the 2002 World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan: he was able to attend the opening game - where he watched Japan draw against a “very strong” Belgium.

Iran 0 Spain 1

Shirin Azari and friends, Bromley, 20 June

If only Vahid Amiri, the Iranian striker, could hear the chant from the mothers, teachers and former students of Iyda, or the Intercultural Youth Development Association, a Farsi-speaking community in south London: “Vahid pa Talayii omide team e mayii (Goldenfoot Vahid, you are our team’s hope).” Sadly, his golden foot doesn’t save the day: Iran’s only goal in the game against Spain is offside and they lose 1-0.

It is a women-only party, organised by Shirin Azari (behind sofa, in white Iran T-shirt) with friends in Bromley. “We often get together for food and gossip and chat,” says her friend Pupak Navabpour, whose children learn Farsi at Iyda. Food is the focus at these events, and it is all set up before people arrived, “so you can eat with your eyes first”.

Shirin has made dolmas and Turkish burek, and serves them with rosebud and cardamom black tea brewed in a samovar, followed by gaz (almond nougat) and nabat (crystal sugar) on sticks. “That is what we do when ladies get together,” she says. “The group was singing Iran Iran by Arash, dancing and chanting in Farsi.”

“I think Iran are really good at defence, one of the best,” says Shirin, “but not attack. Even if they try to score, there’s nobody there; they keep themselves to their own goal.” Despite her criticisms, she is proud of her team, “because they don’t have the facilities or coaches that western countries have.”

Pupak agrees: “It was gutting that the goal was disallowed. They defended well and almost scored a few times – even though they lost, I think they did quite well.”

Pupak started taking Farsi classes as an adult when she realised she was beginning to struggle with her mother tongue. Now her children go every Saturday. “My youngest said, ‘But Mummy, I’m English.’ Even though I’ve spent most of my life here, I don’t feel that kind of belonging. When I watch Iran play in the World Cup, I suddenly feel that connection to home.”

Serbia 1 Costa Rica 0

Bogdanovic family, London, 17 June

On 17 June, Serbia won their first World Cup game in eight years. The more superstitious might have the Bogdanovics to thank for it: “We sit in the order we were sitting in 2010, when Serbia won against Germany,” says Deanna, 47 (on left). “We try to recreate exactly what happened that day, so we can win in the future.” Serbian snacks must be on the table and everyone must dress for the occasion.

Deanna and Brian, 47, moved to London 20 years ago; soon they will have spent more of their lives here than in Serbia. “Often you question where home really is,” Deanna says, “but the World Cup erases that feeling. I’m not usually into football, but the World Cup turns me into a completely different person. When we scored,” she says of the winning goal, “it was such an amazing feeling. I don’t think we breathed for the last 10 minutes.”

The only year-round football fan in the family is 15-year-old Vuk. Serbia haven’t qualified for the World Cup for more than half his lifetime, and he remembers being a small boy watching Serbia beat Germany. “Back then, Stojkovic was my favourite goalkeeper, and he saved a penalty. That was a proud moment.” His ritual during the game is never to jinx it by being overconfident: “Even if we were 3-0 up, I’d still keep my mouth shut until the final whistle.”

Iceland 0 Nigeria 2

Silla Johannesdottir and friends, London, 22 June

Iceland’s mere presence here is historic. The smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup, its population is the same as Sunderland’s. Silla Johannesdottir (on far right), who watches the game with her family and Icelandic friends, bearing flags and face paint, says, “It’s like a fairytale – we’re a tiny, tiny country. No matter how it goes, we’re so super proud of them.”

But the game is disappointing, ending in a 2-0 loss to Nigeria. “When we got the penalty, there was a tiny bit of hope,” Silla says, “but Gylfi Sigurdsson didn’t score. That was a real low point, a kick in the gut. Everyone just left, there was no celebration. It was a bit sad.”

What went wrong? “They were just better than us. They can run, those boys, and the Icelandic team just couldn’t keep up with that pace.”

Her husband, Dadi Sveinbjarnarson (back right), agrees that speed was the Nigerian team’s strength. “The Icelandic team played pretty well, they had two or three tries on goal, and that was more than Nigeria, as far as I could see. Iceland just got outrun.”

Dadi feels particularly connected to the team because he used to work with Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Thór Halldórsson, whom he describes as “a Viking shield wall”. “I was a commercial producer and he was one of our film directors. He is a very talented commercials maker who had a side life as an athlete – then that became the more important part of his career.” Halldorsson even directed a Coca-Cola commercial for the World Cup, using the famous supporters’ “Viking clap” as a lead-in.

But Silla thinks everyone in Iceland feels connected to the team, and that even other nations have been rooting for them. “People approach us and say, ‘Well done.’ Everyone is happy for us. The World Cup really brings people together.”

Colombia 3 Poland 0

Erik Sarmiento and friends, Manchester, 24 June

In Colombia, football isn’t watched with strangers in a bar – it is a party to be shared with those closest to you, in your home. So Erik Sarmiento, 27 (sitting on the floor), is bringing South American carnival to inner-city Manchester by cramming 10 friends and family into his small flat to watch Colombia play Poland. The beers are flowing and a Colombian barbecue is on the go, with sides of guacamole, black beans, chimichurri and patacones (fried plantain) served with hogao (tomato salsa).

The Spanish TV commentary is streamed at high volume and everyone’s focus on the match is unwavering, despite the noise of friends talking. An expensive bottle of Amarone wine sits by the television for final whistle celebrations.

Erik, a business manager who lives with his wife Laura Van Hoof, 28, a Spanish teacher, came to the UK as a university student on a scholarship to learn English in 2009.

“Growing up in Colombia,” he says, “sport isn’t associated with status or money because you can play in the streets. Colombia turns into a carnival when the national team plays. When I watch here, with Colombian food, music, friends, it’s a little bit of home in the UK.”

The group play on bongo drums and improvise beats with a cheese grater, metal jug and spoons throughout the game. For 90 minutes, it feels as if the room is poised to explode – and it does, when Mina scores 40minutes in. “Goooooooooooal-azo,” they scream. By the third goal, they hug and sing: “Championes, championes, olé, olé, olé!”

Erik says, “Football is an international language. I play four or five times a week – it’s how I met these friends. I saw someone wearing a Colombian club’s kit and now we are all watching together.”

Sebastian Cano, 29, who moved to the UK in 2013, agrees: “It’s a sense of community. This is how it would be back home. I grew up with Carlos Valderrama [known to non-football fans for his big, blond perm] as a national legend, but in my opinion that generation was overrated. This squad is better.

“The last World Cup was the first time in our history that we made it to the quarter-finals; James Rodríguez was top goalscorer and won the golden boot which was a big thing for us. Now our expectations are high.”

France 1 Peru 0

Yves Ogrodzki and friends, Cheltenham, 21 June

Studies over the years have reported that the French aren’t the easiest folks to please. Chef Yves Ogrodzki, 53 (with glass in hand), and his sous chef Jeremy Denni, 21, aren’t doing much to subvert those findings with their assessment of France’s victory over Peru. “It was a bit weak,” Yves says, “they could have done a lot better than that. I didn’t find it very exciting really.” Jeremy agrees, pointing out, “We have some of the best players in the world, so 1-0 is falling short. There were moments I was scared we wouldn’t win.”

Yves and his wife Elisabeth, 53 (on right), run a French restaurant in Cheltenham, and they have invited the staff to their home to watch the game. “We want to bring to our customers a proper French atmosphere, so all our staff come from France. They are all in their 20s, it’s their first time working abroad, so we very often organise little parties like this at home.”

Yves prefers rugby to football, but finds the World Cup gives foreigners an opportunity to talk about their national identity. “I remember when France won in 1998, people felt very patriotic. But living abroad, there’s a new dimension to our identity. The World Cup brings everybody together while still having that thing that says, ‘I belong to that country.’ Even someone like me who is more interested in other sports, we still get to go back to our roots. And I like the jokes. I’ve seen people joking on social media that now Italy haven’t qualified, they can look after everyone else by delivering pizzas.”

There’s no special World Cup dish, just your basic French delights: a glass of pastis, sausages with mustard from Dijon, some traditional Parisian baguettes with ham and cornichons. “To bring luck,” Jeremy says, “we all sing the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, before the game starts.”

Mexico 1 Germany 0

Hayaux-du-Tilly family, Putney, London, 17 June

At the apex of a divisive Mexican general election, nothing brings the country together like beating Germany. Yves Hayaux-du-Tilly (back right) watched the game with his sister and her Irish husband, his daughters, the nanny Maggie who has lived with them for 16 years, his sons and their friends. His wife, who was working, was sad not to see their win.

“It was a brilliant game,” Yves says. “Mexico generally make it to the finals, but they normally underperform. This time they played brilliantly; it wasn’t a consequence of a mistake from the German defence. We could have scored one or two goals in the second half; unfortunately we didn’t, but we won. We defeated the world champions.”

The family members have varying levels of superstition when it comes to the World Cup. José Pablo, 19, “will probably wear the same underpants and shirt without cleaning it every game the Mexican team plays”. They have to hang the Mexican flag and the beer has to be Mexican: “And of course we have guacamole, nachos, quesadillas – as an expat, it’s a way to connect with your country.”

After the victory, Yves was in Mexico and found the mood of the entire nation lifted. “I was there three weeks before the game and everybody was angry and trying to convince other people to vote for their candidate. Now, nobody really cares about the election. We feel nothing can be that wrong if we can beat Germany. It changes the mood of the entire country. It’s very, very powerful.”

Yves, whose best football memory is watching Mexico play at the Azteca stadium during the 1986 World Cup, thinks people will be talking about this victory for decades to come. “I love that the World Cup gives us this opportunity every four years to try again. That’s what life is about: you always have the opportunity to prove yourself one more time.”

Ten days later, Mexico got through to the final 16, despite losing 3-0 to Sweden in their final group match. “It was a bittersweet feeling,” Yves says. “I was a little bit disappointed by the lack of character, focus, concentration and discipline in the players. But the main objective is to get through to what we call in Mexico ‘the fifth game’,” ie the quarter-finals. “That has only happened twice, only at the World Cups in Mexico,” he says.

Yves did ultimately enjoy watching the Sweden match in a pub, largely because of the simultaneous Germany v South Korea game, which saw reigning champions Germany crash out of the tournament. “We didn’t care about our score,” he says. “We were all watching South Korea and when they scored we all cheered and hugged the South Korean fans.”





South Korea 1 Mexico 2

Lee Jaeyoung and friends, Bradford, 23 June

No one gathered in front of Lee Jaeyoung’s TV thinks South Korea have a chance against Mexico. The group of international students are on a study abroad programme at Bradford University. “I asked my friends how they thought we would do,” says Jaeyoung, 27 (back left), who studies psychology, “and they predicted a 2-0 loss, or maybe 2-1 if we were lucky.” He is more optimistic, hoping for a draw, but in the end the 2-1 defeat comes as no surprise. “I saw Mexico play Germany, and the Mexican team is really good.”

Before his friends arrived, Jaeyoung bought some beer and fried a load of chicken drumsticks – an extremely popular combination the Koreans call “chi-maek”, from “chi” for chicken and “maekju”, the Korean word for beer. “Unfortunately we couldn’t find Korean beer,” Jaeyoung says, “so we had Stella and someone brought Carlsberg. It was a really good time.” They hung up the Korean flag for luck.

“I don’t watch football usually, just the World Cup,” says Kim Seungyeon, 21 (back right), who studies psychology and counselling. “It’s a lot like the Olympics in that if our team wins, I feel I’ve won, too. I know they work hard, so I’m really happy to support them.” For her, the moment to beat in World Cup history came in 2002, when hosts South Korea reached the semi-finals. “It was the best moment – a miracle.”

Despite today’s loss, they are extremely proud of the team’s forward, Son Heung-min. “He got a really incredible goal during extra time,” says Jaeyoung, who is a huge fan of the Tottenham player. “After the match finished, I saw on the Korean news that he was crying in the locker room. I felt like shouting, ‘Don’t cry, Son! We lost but you were the best!’”

He was similarly impressed with his team four days later, when they achieved the unexpected and won 2-0 against Germany, marking the end of the latter team’s World Cup. “I didn’t expect that kind of score,” he says. “It was really impressive.” The match was a 0-0 draw until the 92nd minute, which would have still resulted in Germany being knocked out, but then South Korea’s Kim Young-gwon scored: “And I was like, ‘What the hell? This is awesome,’” Jaeyoung says. The goal was ruled offside, then reviewed on VAR, allowed, and was swiftly followed by a second goal from South Korea.

Even though the win didn’t change their knockout from the World Cup, the celebrations were exuberant. “We were screaming and dancing,” Jaeyoung says . “I just wish I had put a bet on.”

Russia 3 Egypt 1

Anastasiia Fedorova and friends, Catford, London, 19 June

The balloon is for Anastasiia Fedorova’s husband, whose birthday was a few weeks before the match. He chose to work an extra hour in order to miss the game. “He was absent on principle,” she explains. “He’s British but was born in Ukraine, so he doesn’t support the Russian team. Sometimes we have small political battles. If there was a game between Russia and Ukraine, it would be a nightmare.”

Anastasiia, 31 (on right), and Polina Kaplitskaia, 29, studied at the same university, St Petersburg State in Russia, and four years later bumped into each other on a plane from London to Moscow and rekindled their friendship. They both came to the UK for love; Anastasiia’s husband is British, and Polina’s husband Andrey had been living in the UK for 10 years when he met Polina through a mutual friend on a trip to Saint Petersburg.

Polina has brought along red, white and blue paints to decorate their faces with the Russian flag. She thinks Egypt’s own goal, clumsily scored by Ahmed Fathi in the 47th minute, prompted a surge of energy on the Russian side: “I don’t think our team was concentrating very hard - but then Egypt scored an own goal and after that Russia started playing better. They became more active and confident.”

“Our first goal was the best moment for me,” Anastasiia says. “I remember thinking, we’re so close to winning the game, and if we win we’ll go through to the next stage and it will be the first time in Russian history.” She hopes the World Cup will be good for the Russian people: “I hope everyone sees the real Russia, how the people are nice and welcoming. Sometimes our government does things that aren’t nice, but the people are not the same as the government. My parents in Russia say the atmosphere is so warm.”

Living abroad when your country is hosting sometimes means missing out on the party, and Anastasiia felt sad when she saw Instagram stories showing people celebrating in the streets of St Petersburg. “We won and that was a surprise for everyone,” she says. “We’ve only won two games so far – but for us it’s like we’ve won the whole thing.”

• This article was amended on 2 July 2018 to correct the spelling of Adama Kande’s surname.

• Commenting on this piece? If you would like your comment to be considered for inclusion on Weekend magazine’s letters page in print, please email weekend@theguardian.com, including your name and address (not for publication).