Saturday 10th December 2022
Well you all know what happened. England got knocked out of the World Cup. Again. When the time came to play a really big team, England just didn’t have enough to get through. Oh and we missed a crucial penalty at the death. We had the chance, the World Cup was within touching distance and we could have won it. But we threw it all away. Same old England.
Except this time, England did not conform to ‘the script’. We weren’t the ‘same old England’, nothing like it. This England were different, are different. We were playing the reigning World Cup winners, France. The French are, for me, the stand out team here in Qatar. If they play to their potential they will win back to back World Cups, the first team to do that since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. If they do that, this team will be the greatest national team of my life time, and that includes the 1970 Brazil team.
Yesterday was very tense for Kirsty and I. That’s normal on a big match day like this. And be under no illusion, if England had won, it would be our greatest victory outside of 1966. I thought a few times, if I am feeling anxious, tense and nervous, just imagine what those players must have been feeling.
We decided to have a quick FaceTime call with Our Joyce, Sarah and Coco back home. They all looked well and were looking forward to the game too. They said how cold it has been, so cold that poor Ben and Chris who are building our barn for us had a day they couldn’t work as the roof and scaffolding were like an ice rink! It was lovely to see them all and it gave us a little pep up too!
We took things easy. We got our match gear on, including our rainbows and had a late lunch at our usual spot in the Souq. The Souq is a proper hubbub of humanity and it’s been our spiritual home whilst we’ve been out here. Morocco were due to play Portugal in their quarter final and the atmosphere was building and the anticipation rising. Everyone seemed to be a Moroccan fan. There were a few Portuguese fans knocking about and just like the Spanish fans from earlier in the week, I felt for them. They seemed to know that tonight was going to be their nadir.
England had the late kick off again, 10pm local time at Al Bayt Stadium which is the furthest stadium away from the centre of Doha. We played Senegal there a week ago. It’s a Metro ride and a 30-45 minute ride on a bus and a 15 minute walk to the game all up. We wanted to watch the Morocco vs Portugal game so we decided to go to the end of the Metro line at Lusail and then find a screen to watch the game. Lusail is where the World Cup final in eight days time. Could we be back here? Could we?
We walked from the Metro station along the Lusail Boulevard. Clearly the Boulevard was brand new and highly impressive from an architectural perspective. As I have said before, when money is no object, anything can be build, anywhere at anytime.
After a twenty five minute walk we eventually got to the end of the Boulevard and found the big screen. At the end of this walk of wonder, the screen was actually quite disappointing. We got there just in time for kick off and there was already a big crowd gathered. Kirsty couldn’t really see much as a lot of people had decided to stand so she went to the back and sat on some steps. I took my chances but the view was not great. At the stroke of 6.16 the commentary was muted as the the last prayers of the day, known as Isha, were heard. In Qatar there are six times in the day when prayers are said starting at sunrise and going past sunset.
Given the fact that Kirsty couldn’t really see much we decided to head back up the Boulevard and get a coffee. We heard a huge cheer and realised that Morocco must have scored. I managed to get the game up on a stream on my mobile so we could catch the rest of the game. Morocco held on and put out Portugal out of the World Cup. It would Ronaldo’s last kick for Portugal at a championship. He’s been a great player, it was a pity he didn’t seem to want to congratulate the Moroccan players as he left the field.
As we were walking to the bus station area, we met a fellow England fan, Brendan. He had flown in from Muscat in Oman and was flying back in the early hours of the morning and like us would be going all the way if England progressed any further. Brendan had done his fair share of England away games. In a World Cup of coincidences, it turned out that Brendan was a Cheltenham Town fan which is the closest team to where we live. A lovely bloke too.
We duly got through the many security checks all without issue. I needed to be with Kirsty all the way as I had her tickets on my phone and not hers.
This time the game was not a blur. Far from it, I will remember every single detail in this this game as clear as you like. You will have all seen the game. You don’t need to read my commentary.
At halftime I sent this message out on my many WhatsApp groups. ‘France have worked us out. They won’t press Maguire and Stones because they know they can’t pass. As soon as Bellingham and Rice show, they press. Griezman has got away with murder. When we give the ball away they attack with zeal and purpose. Saka hasn’t beaten anyone and Foden gets the ball on the touch line. Unless we can work out how to get our creative midfielders on the ball and actually work out how to get in behind them, we will not win this game. France can manage the game and score another couple if they want. Massive 45 mins ahead. Let’s see what England are capable of ….’
Some may think that my summary was harsh, but I stand by those comments. The second half was a totally different story though. England played out of their skins to a man. Yes the referee made some very unusual decisions, but we really did play so, so well. Unlike at the World Cup semi final in Moscow and the final of the European Championship, we played brilliantly. It was so, so close.
At the end of the game, I sent this message to the same WhatsApp groups. ‘England did us proud tonight. It was my 9th World Cup and easily the best team we have had. We went out narrowly to a very good side. What I liked was how we wised up 2nd half and didn’t fall for the trick of letting Stones and Maguire be our creative players so to speak. We had them properly worried. If the 2nd pen went it, I really feel we would have won it. This squad and manger have their best days ahead of them . So much young, technical talent now. The best shape England football has ever been in.’
We met up with Brendan and walked for what seemed miles to get the bus. We bumped into Billy, Dave, Mark, Reggie, Soups who we had spent time with for the other quarter finals the day before, all of whom were down in the dumps too. We all knew what could have been, but I actually think we all knew our best times could be yet to come. We shall see.
Its the morning after the night before and I feel incredibly positive about supporting England now and in the future. I am looking forward to the Euros in Germany, and then hopefully a World Cup in Canada, USA and Mexico. Every single player who was on the pitch played really, really well. No one could have played better in my view.
It wasn’t our night. Except it was. We have a great squad of players, a great manager and a truly great team spirit. One I have never seen before with England. Last night we were told it was all about Mbappe. It wasn’t. It was about Pickford, Shaw, Stones, Maguire, Walker, Henderson, Rice, Bellingham, Foden, Kane, Saka, Rashford, Mount, Sterling and Grealish plus all the other lads in the squad.
Whilst we are coming home, again, without a trophy, but our best days are ahead of us.
What a time to be an England fan.
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