6 Jun 26
Florida Series Friendlies
New Zealand v England
Raymond James Stadium
Tampa Bay, Florida, USA
This 116 page A4 programme was available to buy at the stadium for $15 but I think they added tax/gratuity so it was more like $20. The programme is very colourful with good articles about the players, teams and the two venues involved in the Florida Series in Tampa Bay and Orlando
The pricing was really good with tickets costing $34.70 in the England section. ESTC confirmed that 1500 tickets had been purchased from an allocation 3776. The official attendance being 25,889, including may English Ex-Pats
The Raymond James Stadium(the Ray Jay) has a capacity of 69,000 and has been the venue for the Super Bowl on 3 occasions (2001, 2009 and 2021). Primarily it is home to NFL side Tampa Bay Buccaneers but the stadium has also hosted the USMNT and USWNT. The USA Men's National Team has played at the 'Ray Jay' on 6 occasions:
25 Mar 07 (Friendly) USA 3 Ecuador 1
24 Feb 10 (Friendly) USA 2 El Salvador 1
11 Jun 11 (CONCACAF Gold Cup) USA 1 Guadeloupe 0
8 Jun 12 (FIFA WC Qualifier) USA 3 Antigua & Barbuda 1
11 Oct 18 (Friendly) USA 2 Colombia 4
18 Nov 25 (Friendly) USA 5 Uruguay 1
England at the home of the Bucs
New Zealand 0 England 1
Attendance: 25,889
Declan Rice on edition 199. I think this was taken in the driving rain of Riga last October
On 31 May I left London Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic flight VS117. My 10 hour flight to Miami would be the start of an epic journey to the USA and Mexico, ending on 17 Jul 26
Miami Baby 🌴
After a night in Miami I made my way to Miami Golden Glades for the 4 Hr bus ride to Kissimmee. Cheap and cheerful with plenty of stops!
Home in Kissimmee for the next 9 days
Home, sweet home!
A great apartment but very isolated so we had to hire a car for 11 days to get to the various sites that we had planned to see
We headed to 'St Petersburg for a Tampa Bay Rays MLB game and as a bonus we visit Tampa Bay Rowdies, one of the original most famous of the MLS soccer teams
The Al Lang Stadium was a former popular choice for many MLB teams for their spring training. It only became home to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2011
On 2 Jun it was MLB time to see the Tampa Bays v Detroit Tigers at the Tropicana Field, St Petersburg in the American League (AL) of the East Division.
On 4 June we visited Aquatica in Orlando which is the #1 outdoor water park in the USA
On 5th June we went to the JFK Space Centre, originally the NASA Launch Operations Centre on Merritt Island.
Rocket Garden
Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and the Artemis projects have all had their operation centre's here in East Florida, not far from Cape Canaveral
Steve and the Space Shuttle
A dip in the pool to finish off the day
Its 6th June and matchday in Tampa Bay and I meet up with Southend Tim at the TCP
It's off to to downtown Tampa to meet a Fez about some 'Oxford Scholars'
'Hattricks' is buzzing and I'm $1000 richer
Big T happy that DC is front and centre
Brasso from Wigan
Team photo
Entering the home of the Bucs
Pirate ship and Buccaneer Cove
Anthems
The stadium is only half full but the atmos is good
From the England end
Close up of the pirate ship
It's hot, damn hot! 🔥
25,889 in attendance
The England end
West stand
West stand
East stand
East stand
Strong team for this friendly!
Harry Kane's deft headed flick is the difference 1:0 England
The next game is in 4 days time against Costa Rica
NFL territory
More NFL billboards
'Ray Jay' - Home of the Krewe
The strip, Ybor City
Party time at Ybor City
Young Harry bagging caps
Motel at Treasure Island in St Pete's
Bish and Lewis' gaff on Treasure Island
Dolphin watching day at St John's Pass, Madeira Beach
Dolphin Spotters, we are!
Shipmates
The crew
Derby lads and the 'Family'
Obligatory team photo
