Greatescapers's Blog

It’s four hours to go before kick off at midday here in the impressive Mercedes Benz stadium in Atlanta and my nerves are predictably frayed. Win today and we head back forty years on to The Azteca Stadium in Mexico City for a massive game with Mexico. Lose and we are out of the World Cup and another four years to wait until we can have another crack at it.

We arrived at Atlanta from New York yesterday. Sadly, we missed Norway beating Ivory Coast 2-1. The flight arrived early but we then couldn’t get a slot to unload the aircraft. So early became late and then even more delays happened with everyone’s luggage. We need to get a crack on as we were due to go to the Atlanta Braves vs St Louis Cardinals baseball game at Truist Park 10 miles or so out of the city, which was due to start at 7.15pm.

Colin had got the tickets and was up at the stadium well in advance. Sam and Mark were also headed there too. It was 95 degrees outside and really humid.

We were against the clock, so needs must and public transport gave way to a cab. The traffic was heavy, to be expected given it was match day.

We finally got to the stadium at 6.30pm, met with Colin, Mark and Sam at the Live Bar and sorted the tickets out via the ubiquitous Ticketmaster app and went in. We caught the back end of France demolishing Graeme Potter’s Sweden 3-0. France look unstoppable, I just can’t see them being beaten right now!

The sun was out, the crowd was in great spirits and the tickets were only $17.50 each, so all good.

I’ve been to baseball before, but Kirsty hadn’t. I have a vague idea of the rules but our seats were high up and trying to track the ball from the pitcher was a challenge to say the least. As the game went on I started to understand what was happening more and more. Given time, I could get into baseball.

There were loads of England fans at the game and the between plays entertainment was plentiful and mostly distracting. It’s not hard to see why and how our sports are going this way – think T20 cricket for example. But you can’t knock the inclusive entertainment on offer for the whole family that happens out here.

The game was decent, but the Braves lost 5-3 which was disappointing really.

We had planned to head back to the Live Bar to watch Mexico vs Ecuador. Kirsty and Colin had headed over there earlier to get a spot but it was rammed with Mexican fans and the queue to get in was two hours. Kick off had been delayed by an hour because of an electrical storm in the area and everyone was getting a little tetchy. We made the tactical decision to head back into town and catch the game in a bar. Mexico ran out easy two nil winners, so if England were to beat Dr Congo, we will play Mexico in Mexico City. And that really would be a game.

We did a quick piece for BBC5Live Breakfast and got some sleep.

But all of this is in the future, and that game against Mexico won’t happen if we don’t win today. It’s do or die. I reckon it will be 2-2, go to penalties and we win it, just. Win today and we are halfway there, right now we are all living on a prayer.

And just as I write this we had a call with my Mum and Dad, which was lovely. Mum always worries about me when I am away at football, but Dad has always been calm and wished me the best. He did that again today and it brought a tear to my eye.

Come on Mum and Dad, come on England!

And now….this stadium is off the scale

We had a couple of days vaguely spare post match day to see New York and catch up with a bunch of friends . After an England game, we are always exhausted and the previous night’s party on top of a packed day had wiped us both out. So for once, a little lie in was in order. We said goodbye to Jordan and Nathan as they were off for a few days break. They really had been the most wonderful and generous hosts. We could not thank them enough.

We had arranged to meet up with Colin, Paul and Cathy and their family, Mike and his boys, plus Kelvin and Liza in The Bowery Beer Garden in Chinatown. It was Pride weekend and the city was going to be stacked. We settled down to watch the only game of the day, the first round of 32 knock outs, Canada vs South Africa. To be honest it was not much of a game, South Africa were playing not to lose and Canada really were the better side, just. A last minute winner sealed it for the Canadians and the first host nation was through to the last 16.

We talked a lot about West Ham, the relegation to the Championship, the success of the #NoMoreBS campaign to remove Brady and Sullivan from our club, some old days stuff and the prospects for the new season ahead. We also talked about following England away and all that entailed, the ups and the downs and what it all really meant. Everyone had had a good time out here, and beating Panama made it all that little bit better.

The time came to say goodbye, the Christmasses were back to the UK tomorrow, Mike and his boys later that night and Kelvin and Liza were decamping to the UK for their annual six week vacation. We would see Colin in Atlanta.

We had a lazy walk around Midtown and then back via the Subway to the apartment. It was hot and humid and clearly evening time is dog walking time. It seems like everyone in New York has a dog.

I needed to do a BBC5Live interview about ‘why were we so optimistic about England given how bad we were’ which was a bit of a waste of time.

Once that was done, we picked up some Japanese food and found late night Midsummer Murders on TV to go to sleep to. Imagine our surprise when we saw one of our friends in one of the episodes. He played a person who got garroted!

Next day was another meet up, this time with Tony Rizzaro who lives upstate and came in by train to Grand Central Station.

We met up in Stout, a great sports bar nearby. They had the requisite enormous amount of screens and first up was Brazil vs Japan in the second of the round of 32 matches. Given the quality of these two teams it was galling that one would be eliminated, but that’s the luck of the draw for you. Japan scored a blinder to lead 1-0 at half time. But I always felt Brazil would win the game. The Brazilian fan on the next table, Baptista, was not so sure, but I kept reassuring him that the win would come. It did and poor Japan were sent packing. Baptista was relieved and we gave each other a hug. Tony had to get his train back so we bid farewell and recreated a picture we had taken in New York nine years previously and hoped it would not be so long before we met again.

We decided to stay put for the Germany vs Paraguay game. I was convinced that Germany would win this. Just like Brazil, the Germans went behind to a cracking goal but managed to get an equaliser to take the game into extra time. Once that time ran out and the dreaded penalties were coming up, I was still convinced that the Germans would win. My friend Ralf was texting me to express his sheer frustration with the German team and a manager, he feared the worst. ‘I don’t know what is happening in Nagelsmann‘s Brain… our midfield is completely wrong staffed’ and ‘Kimmich in the wrong position …. Goretzka wrong player, Pavlovic wrong’.

Germans just don’t miss penalties. Until this time. Balbuena latterly of West Ham managed to miss his penalty for Paraguay just to add to the drama. It was to be the first of two penalty shoot outs of the day, both littered with very poor penalties indeed.

Kirsty and I decided to take a stroll down to the Fan Park in Brooklyn and check it all out. There were multiple games of football taking place on plastic pitches and some of it was a pretty good standard.

The Fan Park close at 10pm, no matter what times the World Cup games are on, which is pretty ridiculous really. We grabbed an ice cream, which was both delicious and massive and headed back to catch The Netherlands vs Morocco game. One thing you really notice in the US is the amount of advertising for legal services, usually very personal and direct and all about getting you compensation or damages for something or another. It’s everywhere and it’s part of the litigious culture of the USA.

That promised to be a great one, two very technical and attacking teams would surely go at each other. And they did. Cody Gakpo scored a great goal brilliantly assisted by Jimmy Somerville currently a West Ham player. The equaliser for Morocco was scored by Issa Diop another ex West Ham player.

That took us into extra time and then the inevitable penalties. The Netherlands have as bad if not worse record at penalties than England do and true to form they lost out, and poor Somerville missed his penalty too.

My thoughts then went to our game against DR Congo on Wednesday. You just know it will be a complete drama and my feeling is a 2-2 draw and then penalties, which I believe we may win. Another West Ham player will likely be against us in Atlanta, Aaron Wan-Bissaka so who knows if that’s a good or a bad omen. All we know is that it will be a tight and tense game.

I checked the FIFA website for tickets to the England vs DR Congo match and there were plenty and the prices were falling as we all predicted. FIFA had a managed to get optimum prices for the loyal supporters and then sell off unsold tickets for less. So much for loyalty!

Anyway some much needed sleep and Atlanta here we come!

Matchday again. Always a nervous time when you support England and West Ham. And always a busy time too.

I got up early and popped round to Pecks to get some breakfast for myself, Kirsty, Jordan and Nathan to set all of us up for long day ahead. Jordan and Nathan had a busy day ahead but weren’t coming to the game. Pecks is one of those places that sells ‘sandwiches’ that come in all shapes and very big sizes. Nathan said that the man who makes the sandwiches has made them for as long as he has lived in Brooklyn so estimated it was probably something like 800 plus for him alone!

Kirsty and I walked for about 15 mins and took the Subway at Clinton Washington into Manhattan and Penn Station. We jumped into a supermarket, picked up some beers and seltzers and headed for the train. The New Jersey Transit system had laid on trains that went to the stadium. Very reasonably priced at over $200 for the two of us! The ride was about 30 mins!

We had to queue into Penn Station, show our match and train tickets and get a wristband. The whole station had been closed to anyone not travelling to the game and the queue gently wound through the station. Everyone was packed onto the trains, standing room only, until they were full and sent on our way. We met a nice couple who were on their way to their first ever soccer game, so we shared our beers and briefed them as to what to expect. Boo the hydration breaks and boo any random celebrities that FIFA deemed to put on the screen. They found it hilarious.

We were all off the train at Seacaucus and then all on another train to head to the Met Life stadium. You would have thought we would have had a direct train for $200! It turned out that our friends Paul and Johnny, both West Ham fans were also on the same train as us, but at the back so we agreed to wait on the station to meet up. That all worked smoothly and the next stop was to find somewhere to drink.

As with all these US stadiums, there really isn’t much by way of local infrastructure. Stadiums are very much out of town and on retail parks. More West Ham friends Colin and Barrie were already in position at the American Dream mall and so we headed over to there. As we walked through the multi storey car park, who should we bump into but Colin and Barrie! They were headed to the stadium, so time for a quick catch up and pictures and onwards.

The mall was full to the brim with football fans, a huge amount of Panama fans, which is unsurprising given the size of the Panamanian diaspora here, which is much like every other diaspora, enormous! Every bar was rammed and the queues were all over an hour. Our friends Kelvin and Liza had found a place called Dream 360 which was an Asian restaurant with a bar. They had managed to get in and so Paul, Johnny, Kirsty and myself slipped in. We told our friends Mark and Sam to meet there too. As with all these places it was chaos. They just aren’t geared up for thirsty football supporters and simply cannot cope. We managed to order up 32 beers so that we didn’t waste time in future.

It was now 2pm, with the game some three hours away. All was well. It was tipping down with rain outside. Yet again we were being spared hot temperatures on match day. A real blessing, not for us but for the team.

We decided to head to the stadium in good time, you can never rely on how long it takes to get through security, so always best to allow more time. As always, the security staff and police were all really friendly and pretty efficient. I bid Kelvin farewell, we were both nervous and both predicted 2-1 to England.

The atmosphere was electric, every single fan played their part. Hats off to everyone really, it’s what makes The World Cup very, very special. We bumped into our old friend Shane, a fellow veteran of many World Cups and took some pictures. Pictures which none of us had been able to locate since!

As kick off approached rain was getting heavier and heavier but it wasn’t cold. We were right behind the goal, again so really close to the action.

England could not afford to fall into the same trap that Ghana laid for us with their low block and excessively defensive approach. Panama were effectively playing for pride as they were out, but those teams are always the most dangerous. Tuchel had changed the team, out went Noni, Spence, Gordon, James and Rice, in came Rashford, Saka, Rogers, O’Reilly and Quansah. At no stage in the game did I ever not think we were in full control of the game and we were not going to do anything except win, but clearly back home that wasn’t the case given the amount of messages I was getting from all of my friends all of which were resoundingly and universally negative. It confirms what I have always thought, the game you watch live at the stadium is nothing like the one you see on TV.

Anyway, after a bit of toil, we scored twice and ran out 2-0 winners. Relief all round. Atlanta here we come as Senegal awaits. Or so we thought.

We met up with Mark, Sam, Kelvin, Liza, Barrie, Colin, Steve and his son in the same bar, watched the Colombia vs Portugal and DR Congo vs Uzbekistan all at the same time. Somehow, our opponents in the round of 32 became DR Congo and not Senegal. Does anyone actually know how the system of third place teams and who they play actually works? Whoever you end up playing in the knockouts, it’s pure jeopardy. Literally winner takes all, losers go home, players and fans!

We let the human traffic calm down and headed back to Penn. We were off to a rooftop Pride party in Williamsburg, which really is a cool part of town.

As we approached, we heard our friends shouting down at us and as if by magic, a front door key arrived on a rope for us to key ourselves in. How cool was that!

Everyone, and I mean everyone at the party was so lovely. We met so many great people. Nathan was DJing and did an amazing job. Jordan made sure we met everyone. We took a cab home with Robyn and Tim who were hilarious and couldn’t get the door open for a while. Don’t ask.

A perfect end to a perfect day.

Thank you New York & New Jersey.

So long Providence, Rhode Island, hello New York and the fifth US state we have visited thus far.

We took the Amtrak train for around three and a half hours into Penn Station and was really easy, comfortable and efficient. It was a pretty scenic journey for most of the way and just so much easier than flying.

We came through a swampy piece on the outskirts of New York which I discovered was Pelham, something that chimed with me from my childhood when my Mum took me to see ‘The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.

Penn(sylvania) station was as busy as any major station in any major city is, the difference being the world famous Madison Square Garden is plonked right on top of the station.

In the end, we decided to take an Uber to where we were staying in Brooklyn, which ended up really not being as indulgent as I thought it would be. It was a really easy drive from Midtown passing by the famous Madison Avenue, home to the advertising industry and original Mad Men, past The Flat Iron, through Noho, past the Tenement Museum, down through Chinatown, over the Brooklyn Bridge, past Fort Greene Park to our home for a few days just off Vanderbilt Avenue.

Our Uber driver was the first of six who said absolutely nothing at all during the whole ride which was a surprise. Every other taxi driver had chatted all the way, but not this guy.

We are staying with our friends Jordan and Nathan and their friend Maya was also in town. We watched the France vs Norway game together whilst catching up. France just look so good. Norway made ten changes, so no Haaland or Ødegaard, but even so, France cruised to a 4-1 victory. They really do have it all and for me are the team to beat out here.

Then we sauntered out to eat locally at Osteria Brooklyn, all walkable in an area that reminded me very much of Chiswick. It was an Italian run my Mexicans and the food was delicious. Sitting outside on the street was great and we enjoyed the locals on their oversized motorbikes, whilst also being able to catch the Spain vs Uruguay out of the corner of my eye.

A really lovely, relaxed evening ahead of a big day in New Jersey for the Panama game. A game we have to win really, even though we discovered later that England had qualified into the last 32 via the totally insane FIFA system that weeds out the top eight from 12 third place teams. We also found out that the New Zealand vs Belgium game was the 63rd game of the World Cup. Previous World Cups only ever had 64 games in total.

As it stands right now and if we win our group, we will play Senegal in the next round. That will be very, very tough even more so given they beat us 1-3 in a friendly at The City Ground, Nottingham last year.

We got to bed after the New Zealand vs Belgium game and our view over the city was spectacular.

Today it’s another early start, a very expensive train to New Jersey and hopefully a good England performance and a 2-1 win. We live in hope!

As big Family Guy fans, we just had to take a trip to Newport, Rhode Island and the surrounding area. Add to the fact that the Newport Folk Festival of 1965 was the place where the controversial ‘Electric Dylan’ first happened, and it was a must visit for us.

Dex kindly agreed to pick us up at 3pm, as I had to do a call with the West Ham Fan Advisory Board and couldn’t get out of it. Fortunately, that call was well worth the time as the new regime at West Ham is bringing the changes that we all have wanted for so many years. We planned to meet up with Sam and Mark who had made their own way there, so we could all meet up for the Scotland vs Brazil game.

Newport is a pleasant 50 minute drive from Providence crossing two massive and highly impressive bridges to get into the town itself. The water is chocked full of boats of varying sizes and price tickets and the houses are all of wooden construction and incredibly pleasing on the eye.

As we winded into town we passed The Tennis Hall of Fame Tennis Centre, home to a Real Tennis court and one of only four grass courts used on the pro Tennis circuit globally. We also passed by Cardines Field, one of the oldest and most classic baseball stadiums in the US. It is home to the Newport Gulls who play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). Cardines Field is on America’s Cup Avenue, reminding us all that Newport was the spiritual home to The America’s Cup from 1930-1983.

It was clear that there was real wealth in this town and it reminded me of the famous quote by Alistair Cooke in his ‘ Letter to America’ series, ‘One hundred years after the declaration that all men are created equal, there began to gather in Newport a colony of the rich, determined to show that some Americans were conspicuously more equal than others.’

Newport is that living definition of ‘Old Money’ alluded to by Cooke. The Astors, Vanderbilts, Dukes, Kennedys, Berwinds, Belmonts and the Morgans (of JP Morgan) all owned huge properties dating back to The Gilded Age. We drove around Bellevue Avenue, Ocean Drive and Ocean Avenue, and yes it was all very impressive, think Wayne Manor meets The Great Gatsby. Carter Pewterschmidt, Peter Griffin’s father in law from Family Guy would have lived here of course. Which explains a lot.

Maybe Mark Twain summed it all up rather more tersely than Alistair Cooke felt he needed to. Very much American Direct vs British Understatement?

“Newport, Rhode Island, that breeding place–that stud farm, so to speak–of aristocracy; aristocracy of the American type.”

We found a great bar on the waterfront called The Smugglers to watch the Brazil vs Scotland game. A terrible disappointment littered with errors saw the Scots lose 3-0 and with that, most likely exit the World Cup, although the wait for the teams who finish in third place who play early is a real design fault on the part of FIFA geniuses who wanted a 48 team World Cup in the first place.

The following day we visited Matunuck, had a delicious meal in the Matunuck Oyster Restaurant and then headed up to the Brenton State Park to fly a kite, knock a football around and have some iced lemonade. We were rubbish at kite flying and playing football, but the lemonade and scenery were off the scale. We said our sad farewells to Dex and headed back to Providence to watch the Japan vs Sweden game (2-2) and the USA vs Türkiye game (3-2). It was a couple of long days and nights, but very, very good ones.

As I reflected on our time in Newport and its history, it reminded Milton Friedman, he of the American economist and statistician from the Chicago School of Economics, who rejected Keynesianism in favour of monetarism. He advised Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and as they say, the rest is history.

“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither.” – Milton Friedman

To which I would proffer, ‘really?’…

As big Family Guy fans, we just had to take a trip to Newport, Rhode Island and the surrounding area. Add to the fact that the Newport Folk Festival of 1965 was the place where the controversial ‘Electric Dylan’ first happened, and it was a must visit for us.

Dex kindly agreed to pick us up at 3pm, as I had to do a call with the West Ham Fan Advisory Board and couldn’t get out of it. Fortunately, that call was well worth the time as the new regime at West Ham is bringing the changes that we all have wanted for so many years. We planned to meet up with Sam and Mark who had made their own way there, so we could all meet up for the Scotland vs Brazil game.

Newport is a pleasant 50 minute drive from Providence crossing two massive and highly impressive bridges to get into the town itself. The water is chocked full of boats of varying sizes and price tickets and the houses are all of wooden construction and incredibly pleasing on the eye.

As we winded into town we passed The Tennis Hall of Fame Tennis Centre, home to a Real Tennis court and one of only four grass courts used on the pro Tennis circuit globally. We also passed by Cardines Field, one of the oldest and most classic baseball stadiums in the US. It is home to the Newport Gulls who play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). Cardines Field is on America’s Cup Avenue, reminding us all that Newport was the spiritual home to The America’s Cup from 1930-1983.

It was clear that there was real wealth in this town and it reminded me of the famous quote by Alistair Cooke in his ‘ Letter to America’ series, ‘One hundred years after the declaration that all men are created equal, there began to gather in Newport a colony of the rich, determined to show that some Americans were conspicuously more equal than others.’

Newport is that living definition of ‘Old Money’ alluded to by Cooke. The Astors, Vanderbilts, Dukes, Kennedys, Berwinds, Belmonts and the Morgans (of JP Morgan) all owned huge properties dating back to The Gilded Age. We drove around Bellevue Avenue, Ocean Drive and Ocean Avenue, and yes it was all very impressive, think Wayne Manor meets The Great Gatsby. Carter Pewterschmidt, Peter Griffin’s father in law from Family Guy would have lived here of course. Which explains a lot.

Maybe Mark Twain summed it all up rather more tersely than Alistair Cooke felt he needed to. Very much American Direct vs British Understatement?

“Newport, Rhode Island, that breeding place–that stud farm, so to speak–of aristocracy; aristocracy of the American type.”

We found a great bar on the waterfront called The Smugglers to watch the Brazil vs Scotland game. A terrible disappointment littered with errors saw the Scots lose 3-0 and with that, most likely exit the World Cup, although the wait for the teams who finish in third place who play early is a real design fault on the part of FIFA geniuses who wanted a 48 team World Cup in the first place.

The following day we visited Matunuck, had a delicious meal in the Matunuck Oyster Restaurant and then headed up to the Brenton State Park to fly a kite, knock a football around and have some iced lemonade. We were rubbish at kite flying and playing football, but the lemonade and scenery were off the scale. We said our sad farewells to Dex and headed back to Providence to watch the Japan vs Sweden game (2-2) and the USA vs Türkiye game (3-2). It was a couple of long days and nights, but very, very good ones.

As I reflected on our time in Newport and its history, it reminded Milton Friedman, he of the American economist and statistician from the Chicago School of Economics, who rejected Keynesianism in favour of monetarism. He advised Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and as they say, the rest is history.

“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither.” – Milton Friedman

To which I would proffer, ‘really?’…

We’ve been staying in Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, the USA’s smallest state. And it really has been lovely. We are staying just off Benefit Street, which is straight out of the 18th century, all wooden houses and exceptionally well cared for. The irony is that our AirBnB in this wonderful neighborhood is super budget. Once again full credit to Kirsty for doing all the research and finding yet another winning home for a few days.

Providence has a lot of universities and design schools and it shows. There’s a good degree of relaxed liberal places to eat, all of which are a welcome respite from the relentless fried food we seem to be surrounded by.

But the highlight of Providence for me has been the coffee shop I found along the road from ours called Bitty & Beau’s. From the outside it looks modern, clean and new. Once inside if you are awake, you see the full range of merch they have for sale and the graphics around the wall.

Their story is rather inspiring. Founded in North Carolina by Amy & Ben Wright couple who are parents of four children — Lillie, Emma Grace, Beau and Bitty. Lillie was born with autism, and Bitty & Beau were born with Down syndrome.

After learning over 80% of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are unemployed in the USA, the Wrights decided to create a place where people with disabilities are valued & given opportunity for meaningful work. Their model? Well it seems to be coffee shop, with unforgettable staff that aims to change the way people see other people.

For me, that’s a business with a real purpose. I’ve been in all three mornings since we arrived to collect our morning coffee and I have seen different team members. I managed to have a chat with one woman who was clearly a supervisor/leader and we talked about how historic the area we are staying is, her love of Portugal, as that’s where her family came from. That inevitably led to talk of the football and the World Cup. She was absolutely shocked snd stunned that we were traveling around watching England play.

Today I had another chat with a man who was in charge and he filled me in about the history of the company and philosophy of the business. We also talked about football, the US national team and Liverpool FC who he supported because of the Fenway Sports Group connection.

It was their first summer of trading in Providence and he said they were missing the students who were all on their holidays as the students really did support Bitty & Beau’s. That was great to hear and really has inspired me. Contrary to what many outsiders say, there’s much to be inspired about in America. None of us should ever forget that, even if they do seem to be a tad divided right now.

Maybe Americans should be a little more Bitty & Beau’s. Greatness is not always where you expect it to be.

Well my prediction was 3-0 to England vs Ghana. How wrong could I be? And I also thought it would be hot in Boston but it was cool and wet. What was predictable was that it was another totally exhausting game to watch pretty much the norm with England! But more on that later.

We woke up at Dex and Kara’s to typical Old England weather. Grey skies and rain. Dex rustled up a great breakfast and then insisted on driving us to the stadium. Such a brilliant friend.

The stadium is the home of the NFL’s New England Patriots. But much like the RyanAir or EasyJet model of ‘London Stansted’ or ‘London Luton’, the Gillette Stadium is nowhere near Boston. It is actually in Foxborough which is at least 45-60 mins by car away. Dex, a big Ghana fan for the day, dropped us just short of Patriot Park. Patriot Park looks like a typical retail park surrounded by car parks leading up to an area with bars and restaurants. Apparently US sports fans tail-gate for match days. Tail-gating is when you park up the oversized car and have beers and oversized food out of the back with your friends. Today though, with a combination of the weather and the sheer number of England and Ghana fans present, that just wasn’t going to happen.

So the pressure was on the bars near the ground which were totally overrun with fans and the English and the Ghanans were in fine voice. We had four sets of friends we were trying to catch up with. We couldn’t get into two of the bars to see two sets of those friends, but managed to meet up with two lots in one bar and have a good time pre match.

The walk to the stadium took in a short cut through a cinema complete with non working escalators, much to the surprise of the cinema staff. We sailed through security and everything was so much easier than expected. We waved goodbye to Sean, Suzy, Callum, Fabian, Mark and Sam as we all found our way to where were sitting. We met up with Steve our Forest friend and had a proper laugh.

The stadium was similarly impressive to Dallas although a good bit older. Our seats were low and right behind the goal. Perfect for the action to come.

Both national anthems were impeccably respected, well done England fans, and a great game looked like it was ahead of us.

It was great to see the usual booing of the hydration breaks and those ‘celebrities’ who FIFA have now decided to name with captions. That must be because so many fans inside the grounds just had no clue as to who these people are. Consequently Mumford & Sons got a round of boos, in sharp contrast to David Beckham who got a huge reception with a round of ‘There’s only one David Beckham’, another nice touch from the England fans.

Let’s face it Ghana set up to not concede and made it really hard for England to break them down. Frustrating for the boys and frustrating to watch all round.  

But despite all of that Saka, Guei, Kane and O’Reilly all had great chances towards the end. O’Reilly’s leap reminded me of the great Billy The Fish as he was about a foot higher than anyone else, which is saying something given those Ghanaian defenders were all massive!

Sadly, though a win was not to be but it could have been a complete disaster as it appears we were lucky not to concede a penalty with that Konsa challenge towards the end.

Two steps forward one step back? Maybe. But let’s face it, from what we have seen out here, Argentina, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Columbia, Netherlands, and a few more all look good. If we can get to be in the top eight, we will be doing well.

Next stop is New Jersey on Saturday. We need to win against Panama and try and get back to the levels of that second half performance against Croatia. Let’s see how Panama set up against us. They are out of the World Cup so have absolutely nothing to lose. Game on. We hope!

Goodbye Nashville, Tennessee and hello Providence, Rhode Island. You really couldn’t have two more different States. Think Dolly Parton to Family Guy in a couple of hours flight!

We Ubered it to our AirBnb. Early impressions were just fantastic. Our home for a few days is a very old, wooden building with an eclectic interior design taste and furnishings and extremely homely on a very tight budget. Happy days.

We had a very easy Monday morning in Providence the highlight being a WhatsApp call with Dad. That really made me cry but was so lovely to see and talk to my Dad and Mum.

I picked up some coffees at Bitty & Beau’s which was a lovely coffee shop. It was founded by a couple and offers jobs for people with disabilities and the team were super helpful and welcoming. The woman who served me was fascinated by fact that we were following England around. She was from Portuguese heritage and knew all about the Portuguese team and their challenges given the ‘Ronaldo’ factor.

We decided to take the Argentina vs Austria game on the big screen from Dallas in the local fan park. The weather had turned a little colder and wetter. That did seem to have an effect on the numbers of people watching the game out in the open. The majority of football shirts being worn were Argentinian and every single one bore the number 10 and Messi on their backs. We met a lovely Ecuadorian couple who lived locally and talked football. They seemed to like living in the US, but also said that they missed their homeland. They were slightly bewildered and struggled to get their head around what we were doing watching football on a Monday afternoon. As for following England around North America, well they were absolutely fascinated.

We had laid plans to meet up with our very dear friend and part-time Ghana fan, Dex, who lives just outside Boston. Dex generously cooked dinner at his and his wife, Kara and Conor, their son’s house and then to take us to the Ghana game today.

Dex picked us up from ours just after the end of the game, a game where Messi broke the record for scoring goals at the World Cup, surpassing Miroslav Klose’s previous record. That felt right given the utter brilliance of the little Argentinian maestro. two goals in that game to add to the three in his first game. Surely the Golden Boot this time round will hit double figures?

We called in to pick up some beers and really enjoyed watching France vs Iraq from Philadelphia with Dex’s friend Sean who we had last met in Boston twenty years ago at Dex and Kara’s wedding. I predicted a 3-0 win for France. We at least saw the first half of the game until the enormous storm stopped the game for two hours from half time onwards. Dex told us that if there is a lightning storm within 15 miles of the stadium, they have to be evacuated. Camera crews on gantries and spectators in stands constructed in metal are real dangers to life. It happens all the time out here and they just hold the game until the storm passes and spectators get back into the stadium.

Whilst all this was going on, Norway vs Senegal was getting underway in New Jersey, the same stadium we will be at for the last England group game at the weekend. This was a real classic of a game. Norway with Haaland are a great side and Senegal’s front line are so dangerous. It topped up 3-2 Norway and guaranteed their safe passage into the second round, with Senegal’s future in the competition hanging by a very fine thread.

We had a BBC5Live Breakfast piece to do and then to bed.

Today’s the day we head to the Foxborough Stadium for the Ghana game. Like a lot of these stadia, they appear to be nowhere near the ‘host’ city, in this case Boston which is 45-60 mins away. It’s a bit like London Stansted or London Luton airports.

I am feeling unusually confident about the game, and have even predicted a 3-0 win for England. Time will tell.