England v France, Al Bayt Stadium, FIFA World Cup Qatar, 10 Dec 22

England  v France

FIFA World Cup 2022, 

Quarter Final

Al Bayt Stadium

Al Khor, Qatar

10 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.

Tickets for England's QF against the French were initially undersubscribed but eventually sold out as interest grew. The allocation was 100 x Cat 1, 850 x Cat 2 and 2550 at Cat 3; a total of 3509 tickets. The cost of the QF tickets were quite a bit more expensive with Cat 3 tickets priced at £173, Cat 2 tickets at £243 and Cat 1's at £358. Thank the lord we never made the final as tickets were £508 for Cat 3's. Winner😉

Jordan Henderson is the star of the front cover as England's number 8 sent us cruising into the last 8 of the WC with the first goal against Senegal and and a solid midfield performance. He is also our second oldest WC goal scorer

France 2 England 1

Attendance: 68,895

Gallic realism proved the decisive factor in this battle of the Cross Channel giants. While the ever enterprising Three Lions dominated proceedings for long periods, it was the French who owned most of the key moments, with keeper Hugo Lloris in indomitable form, Antoine Griezmann skilfully pulling the creative strings and the evergreen Oliver Giroud heading in the winner with the dead eye ruthlessness of an assassin. To England's credit Kylian Mbappe was kept relatively quite and Les Bleus even conceded two penalties with reckless challenges but sadly England could not quite complete the job. If only Harry Kane had not skied his second penalty of the night into row Z. Fine margins indeed.

The Al Bayt Stadium has a capacity of 68,000 and is located in the north of Qatar at Al Khor, 35 km north of central Doha. The stadium design was inspired by the the traditional nomadic tent, the 'bayt al sha'ar' tents. The stadium will hosted 9 matches in total, 6 group stage matches (including the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador, Morocco v Croatia, England v USA, Spain v Germany, Holland v Qatar and Germany v Costa Rica), a Round of 16 match (England v Senegal), a Quarter Final match (England v France) and the second Semi Final (France v Morocco)

D-2 and all on my own, I had a few hours to kill before my flight to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. What better place to do it than walking the back streets of Souq Al Wakrah

Followed by a gentle stroll to the beach, but what's this?

The Argies have landed 

Breakfast at a Syrian restaurant facing the Persian Gulf

Goodbye Giant Teddy, I will be back

After the short flight from Doha to Dammam I am picked up and whisked off to Kev's Bar in Bahrain

Bahrain Rugby Club - best fillet steaks ever

Next morning I get a chance to check out the local estate

On the whole not too shabby

Bahrain Braddell has even got his own mosque

Nice 😎

Kev's pad

On Friday Kev has a day off (Saudi WE) so he's treating me to a brunch in a posh hotel in central Bahrain

Getting to know the champagne waiter quite well

Matchday and an early 0730 start to the  border

The journey takes us over the 25 km Bahrain causeway from Al Jasra in Bahrain  to Khobar in Saudi Arabia. The we travel through the wastelands of the Saudi desert to the border at Salwa, a total distance of about 340 km (3-4 Hrs), with the odd variable (random police checks, unnecessary bureaucracy and the Saudi bang bang  bus)

1st Salwa bus

The 2nd bus to the border is more chaotic with some extra bureaucracy thrown in for fun😁

I just passed the bus entrance test so my status as refugee has now officially been updated to WC immigrant

A celebratory moment indeed

A familiar road😆

Here I am, back where it all started just over 3 weeks ago

La Maison was our extremely expensive 4 star hotel located in the Fereej Bin Mahmoud district of Doha was our digs for tonight. A snip at a meagre £386💦

So its back to the Belgium Cafe for some pre-match refreshments with Raymondo and Luke

Michael Oliver was desperate for a photo with us so we duly obliged, shame for him he shut his eyes😉

4 Veterans in a bar in Doha

Luke, Kev, me and Ray

The French job

Pre-Match Grilled Chicken feast 

Fed and watered and we're on our way

Street Art complete and it's showtime

Best World Cup selfie 

At last I've got her all to myself😜

Fan Park fun is over, so time to enter the arena

Gate 18 is beckoning me

Back in the Al Bayt Stadium for the fourth time but this is the one that matters. If we get passed the French I'm convinced that England will win this thing

Excited? Damn right💥😛

The countdown has begun

My seat in Block 140 (Row CC) is perfect

The atmosphere is electric, best so far

I'm stood next to an Old Skool grumpy England fan who kept chastising folk for taking photos/selfies, so thought I'd piss him off more 😂

Lights are dimmed

The prize is displayed

And we're off

The French take the early initiative and are on the attack 😟

France lead 1:0 at half time thanks to Tchouameni's long range strike on 17 minutes

In the second half England play the French off the park and deservedly equalise on 54 mins through a Harry Kane penalty, awarded after Tchouameni brings down Saka in the box

On 78 mins Antoine Griezmann whips in a perfect cross for Olivier Giroud to head home. England rally and win a penalty 6 minutes from time but Harry Kane blasts it high over my head

In the dying moments of the game England won a free kick just outside the area. The dream is still alive

 Up steps Marcus Rashford to curl it just over the bar. It ends France 2 England 1 - Aaaaaargh💩

After 20 days of keeping the dream alive England fell just short. To be honest I was very proud of them because they played some fantastic football and we're in my humble opinion, the best team in the competition. Tonight they didn't get the rub of the green following some dodgy refereeing decisions which allowed the French to be ultra physical without bookings. Although England did get awarded two pens (with the help of VAR) they should have had another in the first half. Not to mention the blatant hacking down of Saka which led to the turnover which produced the first goal. 

The England 'men's team' all female equal rights commentating team of Jill Scott, Eni Aluko and Laura Woods are gutted as the trio witness their freebie tickets to the SF and Final go up in smoke

A last glance back at the tent where the dream ended

Thank you to the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for providing such a brilliant fan experience. A world cup like no other, the only negative was the crazy accommodation pricing, now we begin saving for 2026