Portugal v Switzerland
FIFA World Cup 2022,
Round of 16
Lusail Iconic Stadium
Lusail, Qatar
6 Dec 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.
This was to be the most expensive ticket that I paid for. The only way that we could guarantee seeing a match in every stadium was by buying Cat 1 tickets for this Rd of 16 game in the Lusail Iconic Stadium. The game would be played between winners Group H (Portugal) v RU of Group G (Switzerland) costing the grand total of 2000 QAR for two (£212 each)
Portugal 6 Switzerland 1
Attendance: 83,720
Who needs CR7? This was Portugal's best team performance for many years, they simply toyed with an unambitious, one dimensional Switzerland, who never got to grips with their opponents' quick thinking with the ball, superior movement and fluidity. Fernando Santos clearly made the correct decision when he left Cristiano Ronaldo out of his starting XI. replacing him with rising Benfica star Goncalo Ramos. Making his first start for Portugal, Ramos was irresistible, not only registering a wonderful hat-trick and an assist, but also productive in his aerial work, running and link up play. This made him the first player to score a hat-trick on his WC debut since Miroslav Klose did it for Germany in 2002
I suppose you could say that we left the best till last. The Lusail Iconic stadium is an incredible 80,000 capacity stadium which hosted 10 matches in total: including the final, a semi final, a quarter final, a round of 16 and 6 Group games. The stadium design encompasses decorative motifs seen on bowls and other vessels
After leaving our apartment in central Doha we arrived in our industrial digs in Free Zone. These luxurious porta cabins turned out to be brilliant value at £170 a night. Shame that it was so empty
After a long tiring day its time to relax on the bean bag
Chilling watching Brazil v South Korea in the Rd of 16
Its matchday and we are 'out, out' at Souq Waqif
Sue is a little sad its her last day in Qatar
Checking out the bargains in the Souq
The building dates back to the late 19th century and is located in the area of Wadi Musheireb. It fell into decline during the 90's and in 2003 most of it was destroyed in a fire. In 2006 the government promoted a restoration programme to preserve the heritage of the site and rebuild the older buildings
Sue at the start of her shopping spree
Steve trying to look interested😁
The Spice Market
I need a wee
After a refreshing drink from the well it's time to eat
By the clock tower is the brilliant 'Danat Al Bahar BBQ fish'
Grilled Sea Bass with prawns in a super hot chilli sauce💥
The view from the terrace isn't bad either
Turkish tea vendor
More souq stall shots
A big golden thumbs up from Doha
Can only mean one thing, a visit to the Gold Souq,
after all it's only money😓
After spending an arm and a leg in the Gold Souq we headed back to the porta cabins to pack Sue's gold away and leave it at the luggage deposit on the camp site. Then it was off to the metro for Sue's last game at Lusail (14th stop)
Heading towards Lusail Boulevard
The Golden bowl of the Lusail stadium lights up the night sky
The smart phones are out videoing the golden orb
Sue about to complete the Qatar stadium challenge
Sporting the replica England (1970 Mexico WC) shirt at Lusail just prior to bagging the final Qatar WC stadium
Challenge over, we did it😎
Face painting is now an international epidemic
We had just enough time to see Spain get knocked out on penalties by Morocco
The same entertainment themes are repeated in Lusail, which is a bit disappointing. This is what you get when the cities hosting the games have no history or culture. That said, the fan zones were good, albeit without alcohol
England's undisputed No1 fan makes it 8/8
The stadium was inspired by light and shadow characteristic of fanar lanterns. It's shape and façade mirror the intricate decorative motif's on bowls, vessels and other handcraft art pieces found across the Arab world during the rise of civilisation in the region
Up close the stadium design is very impressive
After scaling the 7 floors to our Block 708 seats we needed Oxygen. Selfie after scaling Mt Lusail
After Sue had got her breath back, a nice selfie to confirm her membership of the '8 out of 8 club'
Finally lost for words😂
Although these were our most expensive tickets, I can confirm that the view was the worst we had all tournament. We were surrounded by so many random fans doing Mexican waves I thought we had been transported back to the Azteca in 86.
I had tipped Portugal to make the final and after this thrashing of Switzerland my tip seemed like a good one
Enter the gladiators
Surprisingly the Swiss have the edge in the head to head v Portugal with 11 wins to 10 losses and 5 matches drawn. The previous most significant games were in the UEFA Nations League Finals in Lisbon in 2019 when the Portuguese won 3:1 to reach the final against the Dutch. 11 years earlier the Swiss had the bragging rights during the 2008 Euro Championships which they co hosted with Austria, when they beat the Portuguese 2:0 in their final Group game in Basel.
Most of the Swiss were behind the goal in the yellow zone
The Portuguese occupied the Green Zone
Anthems
The game was one sided as the Portuguese put on a master class to destroy the Swiss 6:1 and it could have been more
A section of the crowd kept calling for Ronaldo, thankfully he only came on in the 74th
After seeing this stunning performance and hearing the locals boo because the Portuguese coach didn't play CR7, I quickly realised that folk in this part of the world do not fully understand the concept of football
Sue had already left - just before HT, which was a very sad moment but she insisted on me staying for the remainder of the game while she went to catch her Air Egypt flight to Cairo
The sad walk back to an empty Porta Cabin😞
No comments:
Post a Comment