It is not just another morning on Ocean Drive, where brashness mingles with brilliance and grandeur sits unashamedly alongside the grotesque. A Huddersfield Town flag is being hung from one of the art deco hotels that make this area of Miami Beach a living, decadent museum. Two Norwegians in national team shirts cycle past, the woman adjusting a viking helmet before pedalling to catch up. To locals playing volleyball beneath the sand dunes as usual, the sideshow is at once inescapable and remote.

Not even Miami will have seen a party of this nature. Around 30,000 England fans are due to converge here by Saturday but they will be given a run for their money by those baying for Norway, who have offered some of this World Cup’s enduring spectacles. A quarter-final rewards those who have been on the road for a month and is irresistible to the spontaneous too.

“After the Mexico game I thought: ‘Do you know what? What an experience it would be to come out and do it,’” says James Shipperley, from Uxbridge in west London. He and his 15-year-old son, Freddie, have stopped to test themselves on the “muscle beach” outdoor gym. Their tickets cost £1,500 each; the last-minute trip has required time out from school and, for James, from running a pub. “You have to break the bank but it’s a life memory, isn’t it?” he adds. “It’s something special to come here with him. What’s the point of working if you can’t do stuff like this?”

There will be plenty to occupy them before matchday. A pool party at the Clevelander was expected to attract 600 England fans on Friday afternoon, the scheduled finish time 4am. “It’s going to be a heavy night,” says John Gallivan, who supports Bristol Rovers. He has been travelling since 3 June, following Thomas Tuchel’s side through their ups, downs and plateaus. “Mexico City was bucket list stuff, just unreal to be honest with you. I don’t think I’ll experience anything like that again. But we quietened them down a bit.”

Gallivan is allowing himself to dream of a trip to New York next weekend. “I think we can go all the way,” he says. “Not going to lie, I’m a little bit worried about France because they’re absolutely cruising. But if we’re there playing them I’d be happy with that.” Might Erling Haaland not prove an insurmountable obstacle? “Not worried. He’s one player, we’ve 26 good players. As long as they perform, we’ll be OK.”

Others are more circumspect about the prospect of muzzling Haaland, who will fancy adding to his seven goals in four games. “That’s the big question isn’t it?” says Neil Barker, a Leeds fan who has lived in Denver for 20 years. “But he’s been stopped in the Premier League before and the players know him. It’s all up for grabs.”

For Barker, who was a Fifa volunteer in Philadelphia earlier in the tournament, the feeling is far removed from that back in Colorado. “You wouldn’t even know it was happening there,” he says. “We’ve been getting together in British and Irish pubs to watch the games. I really wanted to come down and see if England get over the line.” He will be at the game with Brazilian friends, born in England, who have firmly pledged their allegiances to the Three Lions this weekend.

Further proof of the World Cup’s unifying quality arises in the forms of Sean and Katie, who walk arm in arm past cafe tables that are filling up with breakfast and booze. In a rare positive outcome from England’s dire draw with Ghana, they met in Boston last month and a whirlwind summer romance has seen them reunite in Miami.

“The celebrations, the fun and joviality, everything has been brilliant,” says Sean, who is from Derby. “I’ve been confident about England throughout. Not without certain amounts of anxiety, because they always put you through it. I think they will step up to the mark and Haaland will be in Dan Burn’s pocket.”

He has helped Katie, an American, throw herself into the chaos and charm of England’s travelling circus. “They’re welcoming me and including me in all their experiences,” she says. “I love living through their eyes, seeing and enjoying everything.”

Norway’s contingent will not go quietly. Hundreds are preparing to demonstrate their now famous “viking row” in two different sessions at South Beach during the afternoon. It has been hard to turn a corner in recent days without glimpsing the flowing blond locks of Ole Frøystad, aka “Mr Row Row”, who invented the viral sensation.

Do his compatriots scent an upset to top their dismantling of Brazil? “With my heart I will say we win 2-1,” says Haakon, who travelled from Stavanger with his partner Stella after Norway defeated Côte d’Ivoire in the last 32. “Man for man England have the edge on us but we’ve got bigger team spirit. You can’t put this experience into words.”

As lunchtime beckons, a group of Norway supporters line up along the pavement to high-five anyone following their opponents while singing “England’s going home”. Nobody attending this weird, wonderful World Cup fiesta in south-east Florida wants the show to stop here.