Tag Archives: world cup

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.

Goodbye San Marcos, Austin Texas hello Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve really been looking forward to this trip to Music City. Like really looking forward to it!

And hey boy, hey girl, has not disappointed, it’s actually exceeded my expectations on every single measure.

Our hotel is on Lower Broadway directly opposite the Johnny Cash Museum, we are smack bang in the middle of the Honky Tonk Highway. You want live music? You want loud live music? You want multiple bands all playing live loud music all at once? You’ve got it. These Honky Tonk bars are everywhere. It’s like peak Woolworth’s Pick ‘n’ Mix but instead of sweets, it’s live music.

Our friends were also arriving in Nashville so we headed to The Fleet Street Pub. This is a pub run by an Englishman who is also clearly a Gooner. We met up with Obi, also a Gooner, who we last saw on the last night in Qatar and Reg (2), who is Billy the Bee’s brother who lives in the U.K. Both great people. Billy has asked me on to his and Laney’s Brentford FC podcast Beesotted a fair few times when West Ham play Brentford and is always the life and soul of any party!

We watched the Canada vs Qatar game on the big screen. Qatar got a 6-0 drubbing, and Canada don’t look like mugs at all. We very confused about table vs bar service, because there are ‘obviously’ two separate regimes running each and the tips ‘real estate’ seems to be where the real value is. Getting caught up in this tipping turf war ain’t for us. Welcome to America!

At the end of the match we decided to change scene to one with bigger screens and actual commentary that we could hear. So we duly headed to Draft Kings where we were meeting up with the wonderful Reg 1, Mark, Supes and main orchestrator and all round good person, Billy, all of whom were coming in from Mexico.

Draft Kings is actually a betting company, so think a Paddy Power or Bet365 pub and ridiculously expensive. There were walls and walls of enormous screens and noise to watch the Mexico vs South Korea game on. Both teams looked unimpressive to be honest, and at the end of it, inevitable talk turned to a possible England vs Mexico in Mexico City down the line. Personally, I would love to go back to Mexico City and the Azteca Stadium. The last time I was there we lost 2-1 to Argentina to that goal and that other goal. It would be lovely to return and this time win.

And then back to Broadway, which is quite simply like nothing else I have witnessed. Literally thousands of people, thousands of pairs of Cowboy boots, Cowboy hats and Rhinestone everywhere. It’s like one big hen party sponsored by Ariat or Tony Lama (two of the big names in Cowboy boots). Humour is good and people are clearly out for a good time.

We hit Chief’s Honky Tonk Bar which like most of the bars has about 5 floors of music. Two things stood out. The extremely high quality of the bands playing and the overall friendliness of the Americans.

For those of us who have travelled many times to the US, the friendliness and openness shouldn’t be a surprise.

Relentlessly optimistic, Americans are always interested in what you think of their country and why you are visiting. When you tell them that we are here for The World Cup, and yes, we were travelling round watching England play their World Cup games, they are all completely enchanted and confused in seemingly equal measure.

Two young lads, Owen and Ryan, were on the other side of the bar and were smiling and pointing over at us. Kirsty thought there was something up. I disagreed. 20 minutes later and my confidence was repaid. The boys were just happy to see ‘an old timer like me having fun’. I did say ‘less of the old’, but they were genuine if a little drunk. That was better than the comment some English fan said when he asked where I was from, always tough question. Is that where I was born, where I have lived, or where I live now? Anyway when I told him I lived in the Cotswolds, he quipped ‘you’ve made some money as you have clearly got a trophy wife’. I corrected him on both counts, but Kirsty found it hilarious. Mind you, when he told me where he was from, note I didn’t actually ask him, he said ‘South London, just outside Gatwick’ to which I replied ‘West Sussex then’. Fortunately him and his very drunk mate decided their night’s entertainment laid elsewhere.

Next up the USA vs Australia match. And we had an early start to make sure we got into the American Outlaws venue to see it.

Y’all come back now…..

Tuesday 6th December 2022

I woke Kirsty up with, ‘right then, I need to go to work’. My wonderful wife looked slightly confused and retorted, ‘What? Where? When?’

As I have always said, tickets for World Cup and European Championships don’t find you. You have to go and find them. Time had slipped away yesterday, and I had got a little distracted by the incredible Test Match taking place in Rawalpindi between Pakistan and England. I was checking in on the score and talking to loads of India and Pakistan cricket fans out here. It was clear that this was one of the greatest Test Matches ever.

By the time we had eaten we needed to crack on and get to the early kick off Japan vs Croatia game. So Monday was a complete write off ticket wise.

We had been checking the FIFA website pretty much continuously to see if we could get tickets for England’s quarter final game vs France, but there was nothing doing.

So I headed up to The West Bay Area to the DECC which is a big exhibition centre where FIFA have set up their ticketing centre. As I left, I said to Kirsty, ‘I am off to graft for these tickets. I wonder if Ten Stretch is in town?’ Kirsty said to me, ‘please don’t take a chance with that lot.’ I quipped, ‘leave it to me’, smiled and went on my way.

At the DECC I soon found plenty of touts with tickets. A few Russians tried to tap me up but not only did they look dodgy, they were also total blaggers. Eventually I found a local who had two tickets which were not absurdly priced. As I was negotiating with him, this geezer breezed past. I thought ‘that looks like Alfie, but he looks a bit more sun tanned than I remember. Was it just a local doppelgänger?

I caught him up, came alongside and shouted, ‘Alfie is that you?’. It was. It turned out he thought I was under cover Old Bill. He said to me, ‘take your hat and glasses off!’ As soon as I did, he recognised me. The local lad who was hoping to sell me some tickets was following me. Alfie, ever the consumate professional asked me if I was sorted. When I said no, not yet, he politely but firmly told the lad we did not need his services. Three minutes later I’ve got two tickets at face value and a drink for Alfie.

Here’s where the World Cup of coincidences rolled on, again. Alfie used to be Ten Stretch’s partner. Alfie told me that Ten had sadly died a few years ago, which was really sad to hear. Alfie’s been working the F1 stuff in the Gulf as well as still running tickets at Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham and Chelsea. He is one of the original ‘tickets, I’ll buy or sell’ boys from the 80’s and we’ve done loads of business down the years.

Kirsty was back at base, our hotel being converted to our latest ‘World Cup war room’. I had said that I would definitely get tickets for the game, but I am not sure she believed me. We needed to see if we could ask Sarah if she would extend her care cover for Our Joyce. If that was possible, we would need to change our flights and extend our hotel stay. But we needed to do it all as cheap as possible.

I WhatsApp’d Kirsty with the good news that I ‘was holding’ and she could barely contain her excitement. Typical of Kirsty she kicked straight into top gear and got on the with flights and hotels. It was a very frenzied morning and eventually we met up for a very late lunch. We felt emotionally and physically drained but obviously elated!

We couldn’t hang about though. We needed to get off to the early kick off at the Education City Stadium which was happened to be the closest to our Old Town Doha base.

That game between Spain and Morocco promised to be another cracker. What we didn’t know was how much of a treat we would be in for. This game was going to be off the scale!