Saturday 13th January 2024 – The Asian Cup – Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha

It was a simple journey from west to north via metro and bus before the organisation committees ridiculous exit routes for fans added a needless 20 minutes to the walk from the stadium to the metro. I fully understand the need for crowd control but it was taking it to extremes and by the time I reached the metro station platform, time was ticking.

The Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium is the smallest to be used in the tournament, with a capacity of just over 10,000. A perfect choice for a game where travelling support is limited and there’s not a lot of local interest. The stadium sits close to the University complex, with a shopping centre on one side and a huge, fortified government compound on the other, home to “internal security forces”. No sneaky peaks at Pornhub whilst you are watching a game then.

Three sides of the ground are single tier with a dozen or so rows of seats, with an impressive main stand that towered over the rest of the ground. The floodlights don’t tower here though, they lean in, on concrete knees, almost giving the impression they are peering in.

The crowd was sparse to say the least. A couple of sections of Chinese fans and a smattering of vocal Tajikistan supporters. Two young ladies sat directly behind the goal, in harm’s way of the warm up shots flying high and wide. One suggested they moved “in case they got hit in the face”. The irony here was both had overdone the lip fillers for Christmas and it would’ve been hard to tell if the ball had hit either of them.

It’s hardly ideal preparation when your former coach admits he paid bribes to “someone” to get the national gig in an interview on national TV, and that he was involved in match-fixing.

The former Everton midfielder’s confession was part of a crackdown on football corruption that triggered the downfall of at least 10 senior Chinese Football Association officials and has left a lot more worried, although Aleksander Janković looked the picture of calm in his smart suite in the dugout.

Tajikistan, making their debut in the tournament came out of the blocks quickly, eagerly chasing every loose ball. It reminded me of school football with a huddle of players always chasing the ball. Their response when they lost the ball was to simply bring the Chinese player down.

Half-time and a chance to try something from the official food kiosk. Not that there’s anything unofficial or even any variation on what’s on offer. I did get a bit excited when they said the Tomato Ketchup “chips” weren’t available but they did have some paprika ones. That was my highlight of the first hour I’d spent in the stadium.

The one, and that’s how bad this game was, came in the 80th minute. Former Liverpool-born England Under21 international Tyias Browning headed home and the Chinese fans went clap-happy. But before the game could restart, a quiet voice whispered in his ear the goal wouldn’t stand.

Boos rang around the ground at full-time. The two sides mustered just 4 shots on goal between themselves. It was a dour affair and one that won’t live long in the memories of the 4,001 to saw it.

At least the shuttle buses were only a five minute walk away, although rather than heading to the nearest metro station, they headed north to the conference centre. There, despite only half a dozen fans had got off the bus, we had to follow the long diversion, set out with the world’s biggest collection of metal barriers. Finally, I reached the metro platform and was on my way south to game 3 of the day, hoping that it would get better after two drab games in the afternoon.