England v Argentina, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, WC 26 Semi Final, Atlanta, Georgia

England v Argentina

FIFA World Cup 2026, Semi Final

Atlanta Stadium

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

15 Jul 26

There was no official programme for FIFA WC 26 but the FA did produce a matchday poster for each game played by the free lions, available on England@England on X

Official WC 26 Host City Poster

ESTC applications for England's Semi Final in Atlanta against Argentina were undersubscribed due to the high prices. There were 2686 applicants for 3500 tickets in the following categories: 875 x Cat 1, 875 x Cat 2, 1250 x Cat 3 and 500 at Cat 4. Luckily I qualified for the lowest category of ticket (Supporter entry/Cat 4) which was $60 (£45). In all it was outrageous ticket pricing from FIFA

The Atlanta Stadium (Mercedes-Benz Stadium) opened in 2017 and is located in downtown Atlanta, just a short walk from the MARTA stations at GWCC (Georgia World Congress Centre) or Vine Street. The stadium has a capacity of 70,000 and is home to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL and Atlanta United in the MSL. The stadium had the honour of hosting 8 WC games, including this Semi Final between England and FIFA and VAR's favourite team (Argentina):

15 Jun 26: Spain 0 v Cape Verde 0 (Group C)

18 Jun 26: Czechia 1 South Africa 1 (Group A)

21 Jun 26: Spain 4 Saudi Arabia 0 (Group C)

24 Jun 26: Morocco 4 Haiti 2 (Group C)

27 Jun 26: DR Congo 3 Uzbekistan 1 (Group K)

01 Jul 26: DR Congo 1 England 2 (Rd of 32)

07 Jul 26: Argentina 3 Egypt 2 (Rd of 16)

15 Jul 26: Argentina 2 England 1 (Semi Final)

England 1 Argentina 2 Highlights

Attendance: 68,239

Who else for #206?

After landing into Atlanta at 2014, by 2130 I had reached my digs in East Atlanta Village and it was time for Zzzz's

The Guided tour

Day 1: Krog Street tunnel and the BeltLine

East Atlanta Village is like Little Five Points' older, dive-bar brother. It is a grungy, punky, music village with its fair share of homeless and beggars

The Krog Street tunnel has been  Atlanta's unofficial legal graffiti wall since the 1960s. Bring a can of spray paint and a face mask!

Krog Street Tunnel 🌈

The tunnel was built in 1912 as an underpass connecting Cabbagetown and Inman Park/Old Fourth Ward

The Atlanta BeltLine is a 22 mile loop of railroad tracks turned into trails. This is the Eastside Trail from Krog Street Market, Piedmont Park, Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park and finally Ponce City Market where I got off my e-scooter

Ponce City Market (PCM) is a giant food hall and shopping mall located inside the former Sears, Roebuck and Co building

The old Southern Railway corridor which is now the BeltLine led to the Sears building. 

From PCM I walked though the 'Old Fourth Ward' which was where Martin Luther King grew up on 450 Auburn Av and where he preached at Ebenezer Baptiste Church

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the other World Cup Semi Final which saw Spain easily defeating France 2:0 in Dallas. The we found this dive bar in Buckhead, Atl

I can't argue with that

Today's team

A reminder to all!

Day 2: WC Semi Final (England v Argentina). We start the day with a driverless WAYMO

The famous 'ROA Alligator' in South Downtown

Pre-match beer at Tesoro's in South Downtown

Toze and Big Tone

Emily👯

Bish🐺

Big Sam 🐏

DCFC massive

Famous Sheff Utd flag😂

Passing the Argentine vermin🐀

Mark Garner

The Eagle has landed

The Moose has landed too

Amazing Atlanta concourse

The 'Atlanta is Beautiful' mural featuring Dr MLK, John Lewis, the Carters, Andrew Young, Bernie Marcus and Hank Aaron. It includes the Atlanta landmarks: Fox Theatre, Ponce City Market and Piedmont Park

It is right behind the England end between blocks 101-103 and 135-136, the area usually reserved for Atlanta United fans

Nerves are starting to jingle

Enter the Gladiators

The Anthems

Countdown

The English support

Anthony Gordon's goal on 55 mins still separates these two old adversaries but how long can England hold on with the pressure building

Bails from Stockport dressed for the occasion

We still lead on 80 mins

Will 68,239 witness something special

Sadly not. England wilted under relentless pressure, assisted by some poor tactical substitutions by Tuchel and a referee who allowed the Argies to be totally reckless in the tackle, ignoring the majority of their fouls.  Fernandez scored on 85 mins to equalise and Martinez popped up in the 92nd to take the most hated team in world football through to an undeserved place at the World Cup Final.

Norway v England, Hard Rock Stadium, WC 26 QF, Miami, Florida

Norway v England

FIFA World Cup 2026, Quarter Final

Miami Stadium

Miami Gardens, Florida, USA

11 Jul 26

There was no official programme for FIFA WC 26 but the FA did produce a matchday poster for each game played by the free lions, available on England@England on X

Official FIFA WC Host City Poster

ESTC applications for the Quarter Final at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami against Norway were slightly oversubscribed by just 151. There were 3651 applicants for 3500 tickets in the following categories: 875 x Cat 1, 875 x Cat 2, 1250 x Cat 3 and 500 at Cat 4. Luckily I qualified for the lowest category of ticket (Supporter entry/Cat 4) which was $60 (£45). In all it was outrageous ticket pricing from FIFA

The Hard Rock Stadium in Miami opened in 1987 as the Joe Robbie Stadium and has gone by many names since, in my last visit here in 2013 it was called the Sun Life stadium. It is located to the north of Miami in Miami Gardens and is not served by any public transport, so shuttle busses and ubers it was. The stadium has a capacity of 64,500 and is home to the NFL team Miami Dolphins. It has hosted six Super Bowls, one Copa America Final and and had the honour of hosting 7 WC games, including the epic Bronze medal match between England and France which ended 6:4 to England

15 Jun 26: Saudi Arabia 1 v Uruguay 1 (Group H)

21 Jun 26: Uruguay 2 Cape Verde 2 (Group H)

24 Jun 26: Brazil 3 v Scotland 0 (Group C)

27 Jun 26: Colombia 0 Portugal 0 (Group K)

03 Jul 26: Argentina 3 Cape Verde 2 (AET) (Rd of 32)

11 Jul 26: England 2 Norway 1 (AET) (QF)

18 Jul 26: England 6 France 4 (3rd Place Play-Off)

England 2 Norway 1 Highlights

Attendance: 64,478

Anthony Gordon earns his place on #205

I'm sharing with Colin at Hotel YVE in Downtown Miami, away from the bright lights of South Beach but quite a bit cheaper

I flew into Miami from Cancun on American Airlines flight AA2665 arriving at 1701 to be met by Mark Garner who drove me to my digs. A quick turn around and we were out on the town in downtown Miami with Duksey and Colin

Colin in 'Mama Tried' on NE 1st Street

Day 2 is matchday so I cross over by bus to South Beach to grab a Free Lions

South Beach is an Art Deco paradise

The Metromover is the elevated free rail network in Downtown Miami and Brickell

Miami-Dade County Courthouse conveniently located by the Irish Bar (Auld Dubliner)

First beers at the Auld Dubliner

"I wanna be adored"

Suitably fed and watered we hit the rails

Catching the Metro from Government Centre to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr to get the bus

The last time I went on a yellow school bus was way back in 2010 when me and Sue raced in the American Birkebeiner in Wisconsin

Arrival at Miami Gardens

Crossing the pedestrian bridge

Mexicans who gambled on the Rd of 16 game😉

Stadium approach

My 7th game in the USA and Mexico

Miss Norway 

Security 

The stadium has been updated since my last visit in 2013. It now has a modern white finish with clean lines and an Art Deco design. It also has an extensive roof canopy

The statue of Dan Marino, the legendary Quarter Back of the Miami Dolphins was unveiled in 2000 

Steps v Escalators 

Riding to the 300 level

Cheers 

The open concourse is refreshing

 East Gate is where the majority of England fans are. I'm at the 300 Level in 332

Dez and his 'Bricks'

The teams are lining up for the anthems

The North Gate is to our right and in the central lower tier is the Sideline Club - unfortunately this was not available for the WC

The South Gate is to our left and this where the press are located. Norwegian fans are in the far end and behind the goal

The majority of Norwegian fans are in the West Gate

Norwegian Anthem

We've got this 💪

0:0 with 30 mins gone but the Norwegians look dangerous

Norway take the lead through Schjelderup on 36 mins but Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham equalises in first half stoppage time 

Another full house 👏

Haaland is subbed on 105 mins and its 2:1 England

It is all over after AET and England win 2:1

Wonderwall

Leaving the stadium on a high

Feeling relieved as we navigate the way home

We return to the Auld Dubliner to meet Colin and Gurmeet

Day 3: 60th Birthday Party

Bayside for a morning stroll with Colin

The Big Wheel is very tempting but my hangover demands a cool ice cream instead

The waterfront at Bayside

The heat is over bearing so we decide to head to Little Havana

Entering Little Havana

The whole district celebrates Cuban culture

 In the early months of 1961 Cuban refugees from Miami flew from Opa-Locka airport to Guatemala to become part of the 1300 men who made up Brigade 2506. The invasion on 17 April 1961 resulted in defeat as 100 men were killed and the remainder imprisoned. The US government negotiated the release of the prisoners to be returned to Miami.

The failed coupe was backed by the CIA and the consequence of it's failure was to push Fidel Castro closer to the Soviet Union. This culminated in near disaster as the Soviets positioned Medium Range Ballistic Missiles with nuclear capability in Cuba (90 miles from the US). This became known as the 'Cuban Missile Crisis', lasting 13 days between 16-28 Oct 62 with President JF Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev taking centre stage

Me and Colin enjoying the sunshine

Marti, Charlie and Dave have showed up for my 60th at Restaurant 'La Trova'

The Family arrive to make up the numbers and we hook up with some locals also celebrating a birthday party💫

Me and Steve and the Miami birthday girl

Day 4: Little Havana and flight to Atlanta

Calle Ocho, the cultural heart of Little Havana

I went back to Little Havana to kill time before my flight and to sample some more Cuban delights. The lady in the centre is Celia Cruz a famous Cuban/Latin American singer

Roosters on the sidewalk

'Pollo Criollo' - Roast chicken with rice, black beans and caramelised plantains. 😋

Enjoying my Cuban Bowl at El Cuban Diner

The bouncer is a dead ringer for Ian Wright😁

The historic 1926 Tower Theatre is an iconic Art Deco landmark located on Calle Ocho 

A mural near Maximo Gomez Park (Domino Park) showing older members of the Cuban community playing dominoes

The 'Libertad (freedom) fist' is the symbol of the exiled Cuban community in Miami 

Miami is football

Typical fruit and vegetable store

Florida is the undisputed 'sunshine state' due to it's 230+ days of sunshine it gets a year

As I sit down in my seat for my Miami to Atlanta flight with Delta I am given a Belated Happy Birthday wish💗Delta you nailed it !