Friday 25th November 2022 10pm – The FIFA World Cup – Al Bayt Stadium, Doha (just)
Ah the best laid plans. The decision to leave Khalifa and not trying to get in at half-time meant I was on a bus heading north to Al Bayt at 7:45pm. Plenty of time for the 30 mile journey into the middle of the desert and also time for a snooze. The bus scheduling and departures was running like clockwork and nobody was waiting more than a couple of minute before they were seated on a bus.
As a focal point in the city, Souq Waqif was pretty much as central as you could have hoped to find in Doha. It is where you can find the old market (rebuilt in 2006) and where many of the TV companies were located, meaning there were always reporters wandering around looking for a story, where there wasn’t one, and people trying to find somewhere to have a beer. Well, at least some hopeful England fans at least.
It was also where all of the stadium buses arrived at, and departed from. The journey to the Al Bayt was the longest of the eight stadiums in the tournament. May fans took the Metro/Tram/Bus route via Lusail, enjoying the opulent hospitality of the Corniche enroute. Those who optimistically booked a taxi would be sitting in traffic for awhile.
I boarded a bus just before 8pm, two hours to kick-off. There’d been chaos in trying to reach the stadium before the opening game of the tournament last Sunday but the authorities said they’d sorted out those problems. Alas, they hadn’t sorted out the issues in and around the Souq Waqif. Inbound buses, road closures and Friday night traffic in the heart of the city was causing chaos. An hour after we left we finally got free of the gridlock and were on our way.
We finally arrived at 8:40pm and headed up to the stadium entrance – it was huge and hard to see what future it has post-tournament. The official description of the stadium that is a bit more detailed than my “like a square circus big top”.
Inspired by the bayt al sha’ar of Qatar’s nomadic people, the stadium’s magnificent tent structure envelopes an ultra-modern football stadium. Traditionally, the tents are identified by black and white stripes. This is reflected on the arena’s distinctive exterior, as are the vibrant sadu patterns that greet fans once inside.
Sustainability was paramount in Al Bayt Stadium’s development and the upper tier was designed to be removed after the tournament – allowing the recommissioning of seats.
Environmental practices extend to the surrounding city of Al Khor where the numerous parks, lakes and protected greenbelt land stretch out from the stadium to the sea – ensuring a lasting legacy from the world’s most welcoming stadium.”
There you have it. The official description fails to mention it is really in the middle of nowhere and the “green belt land” was actually barren desert as you can see from the photo below taken on my flight home.
The wide security perimeter meant there were no queues to get in, but for the first time on the trip the security guys at the entrance checked to see the name on the ticket matched the Hayya Card. Thankfully, I had bought this one through my FA membership and it was in the official allocation. I’d had the “pleasure” of listening to an American “dude” talk shit on the bus on the way up, but seeing him, resplendent in his USA vest and way too big shorts, being denied entry because the name on his ticket didn’t match was amusing. I would have had more sympathy if he hadn’t had claimed that the US of A would dominate world “soccer” for decades to come, starting from tonight.
Of course, the gate I had to enter through was on the far side of the stadium. If I could turn left it was about 100 yards away. But alas, the threat I posed by having to walk across the red carpet reserved for the dignitaries and VIPs on the way out after 10 minutes of the game, meant I had to turn right and walk close to half a mile (9 minutes to be precise) before I could enter the ground.
Then once in, thanks to some duff instructions from the stewards I was sent left, rather than right and did a complete lap of the stadium internally before I got to my seat just to sing the final line of God Save The King.
This was the 8th tournament I’d attended through the England Fans scheme, the official group managed by the FA. If you want official away tickets, you need to be a security-vetted member and pay for the privilege. You then earn “caps” for every game you go to. The more caps you have, the easier it becomes to get tickets for some of the more popular away games. It’s a Catch 22 because the only way you can get caps for away games is to get tickets to away games. But to get tickets you need caps. However, for this tournament, there was no need to have any caps – anyone who wanted a ticket, could apply – the first time that has happened since I first joined back in 1998.
Whilst the traveling allocation was reduced, the fans still tried to create a decent atmosphere. As normal, the presence of the England Band provided an annoyance rather than helping generate an atmosphere. What we needed, especially with Wales losing earlier in the day, was an impressive performance and a win to secure our second round place with a game to go.
Alas, we got neither. I’ve seen over 100 England games in my life and this was up there with the worst, including the McLaren era. It is hard to think of one moment in the game where you felt any excitement. The US had the better chances, such as Pulisic hitting the bar but only had one shot on goal in the game themselves. The BBC, never one to be controversial in their player rates gave Raheem Sterling just 3.5/10, with Maguire the “stand out” performer with 6/10.
Full time finally arrived and the fans left the England team know what they thought of the performance. There was no doubt we’d do enough to beat Wales and progress but these average, if not dull, performances were becoming more common under Southgate (Hungary home and away in the Nations League to name but two poor games).
Fortunately, at least half the crowd had departed long before the final whistle so the walk back down to the Stadium buses was leisurely. Whilst it was now close to 12.30am, there was no rush. I had a 7am flight back to England to make it to Lewes v Bowers & Pitsea, with a bag pick up required at the cruise ship.
I’d had my doubts. Would it be a good World Cup? Few really gave it a chance, for some very understandable reasons. The opening game, with the sight of so many empty seats half way through the game gave an impressions the locals didn’t care. They did, they were incredibly proud of their country and hosting the tournament. With hindsight I wish I would have taken the opportunity to squeeze in the Brazil game at Lusail and the Netherlands v Ecuador match at Khalifa, completing “the set” but if I had, they would have probably ended up 0-0 too.
I will watch with interest what happens post tournament, both in terms of the infrastructure but also the development of the domestic game.
There were other highlights aside from football, best summarised in the gallery below.
