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.
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