England v Wales, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, FIFA World Cup Qatar, 29 Nov 22

England v Wales

FIFA World Cup 2022, Group B

Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium

Al Rayyan, Qatar

29 Nov 22

There was no official programme for the WC but they did produce an excellent 129 page Fan Guide which included all of the information that a visiting fan would require.

Tickets for England's final group game against Wales were the most sort after of the Group game matches involving England. All categories were oversubscribed (by 613). The allocation was 100 x Cat 1, 558 x Cat 2 and 1672 at Cat 3; a total of 2339 tickets, which was the lowest of all of our previous allocations. At £53 a punt I was always aiming for the reasonably priced Cat 3 tickets, so no ticket dramas for me

Harry Maguire's excellent form at the Word Cup has earned him a front cover slot of the 177th edition of the Free Lions

The Welsh have also got a fanzine. It is called 'Cymru' and is it's on its 62nd edition. As the Welsh play all three games at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium there was no real need for them to produce more than one information booklet. It is however, an excellent read intended for the 3000+ expected Welsh fans

The Ahmed Bin Stadium has a capacity of 40,000 and is home to Al Rayyan SC. It is located 20 km west of central Doha at Um Al Afaei in the city of Al-Rayyan and is close to the Al Riffa Mall of Qatar, the biggest shopping centre in the country. The stadium design was inspired by aspects of local culture and tradition. The façade mirrors the sweeping undulations of the nearby sand dunes. The stadium will host 7 matches in total, 6 group stage matches (including all of the Welsh games) and the Round of 16 match between Argentina and Australia.

England 3 Wales 0

Attendance: 44,297

England confirmed their presence in the last 16 by defeating Wales in an historic meeting between two British nations (a first in World Cup history). Gareth Southgate gave starts to Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden which paid off after the interval when England produced an explosive 20minute period which resulted in 3 goals hitting the back of the Welsh net. Gareth Bale and Ramsey, two of the Welsh star players were virtually anonymous. The first goal was cracked in by Marcus Rashford on 50 minutes when he curled a free kick wide of the Welsh wall.  A minute later Rashford presses Ben Davies who loses possession allowing Kane to power a low cross to the far post which Phil Foden was on hand to tap in. On 68 minutes Phillips releases Rashford down the right, he cuts inside and shoots through Ward's legs for England's third.

It is match day so straight after the alarm goes I excitedly lay out my clothes as today I will be dressed to kill in the 2022 England warm up top, cargo pants (from Red Star Belgrade ultra shop), web belt, white socks and lucky black and white Armani pants

But first we are changing our accommodation from the apartment at Umm Ghuwailina back to the cruise ship 

The big difference this time is that we have a balcony on the 11th floor, a steal at £2452 for 4 nights😟

Harry Dibbs and Kev B at the Belgium Cafe in the Intercontinental Hotel, West Bay

Kev B and Sue 

I

Sue supping up her cider on receipt of the ready to move call

Two Veteran Pet Ops reunited at last

Time to head off  for the match. The Bahrain lads went via the metro (for the matchday experience) and we hooked up with Ray Wright who took us their in his swanky 4WD MG 

The lights of West Bay

The Cav have arrived

As usual we are about to adopt a neddy

Walk to the entrance

Street musicians and dancers

First glimpse of the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium

Ray W, Suzie Sue and Big Steve

Entrance to the gates

Close up of the façade

Arriving at gate 10 - come on England

Stadium Plan

Looking cool on the concourse

The ESTC are packed behind the goal in blocks 111-114 and upper tier (yellow zone) and the Red Wall is opposite in blocks 130 -133 of the lower tier (green zone)

Six down, two more stadiums to do

Nearly all of the corners (Cat 2 tickets) are full of England fans 

Kev B's view from the posh seats in block 321 (red zone)

The first half is a difficult watch but atmosphere is cracking

HT score is 0:0 but the Welsh look leggy and Gareth Bale is having a poor game

5 minutes into the second half and Phil Foden wins a free kick which Marcus Rashford is about to smash into the Welsh net

The game ends with a 3:0 victory to the English. I hope we don't meet up with Brennan Johnstone's mum when we get back to the cruise ship!😆

I suppose all that is left to do now is to relax and watch as many final Group games as we can, as we already know that we will play the Indominable Lions of Senegal in the round of 16 match on 4 Dec at  the Al Bayt Stadium