Japan 4 Vietnam 2

Sunday 14th January 2024 – The Asian Cup – Al Thumama Stadium, Doha

With the first game of the day not until 2.30pm, I took the opportunity to enjoy some time in the sunshine at the hotel.  One noticeable difference in Doha from Abu-Dhabi and Dubai was things here were “just finished”.  Sitting on the patio area of my hotel I noted the flooring was a cover of artificial grass.  But not one piece, rather a badly put together jigsaw of off cuts.  From a distance it looked nice but get up close and the detail gave it away.  You’d see unused building material, hidden just out of sight in public areas, whilst logistics for public transport were thrown together without any real thought for the passengers.  Passable, was a comment one fellow traveller uttered when he saw me paying interest in the fake grass cover.

At the FIFA World Cup I’d attended the Qatar versus Senegal game at the impressive Al Thumama Stadium, which would be my first destination of the day for arguably the tournament’s favourites, Japan, take on world 94th ranked Vietnam.  Described by those wordsmiths at FIFA as “A tribute to Qatar’s cultural traditions in the most literal sense, the stadium, situated in the Al Thumama district of Doha, features a latticed façade design that evokes the gahfiya—a customary head covering worn by males throughout the region”.  They failed to say it’s in the middle of nowhere and public transport is a massive issue.  Apparently, the stadium was supposed to have been reduced in size to 22,000 by now, but the decision to award the Asian Cup to Doha meant that it is still all in place.

For that game in November 2022, shuttle buses ran from the Free Zone metro, about 3 miles way.  You then had to walk over a mile to the stadium from the shuttle bus car park.  As I arrived just as the match versus Senegal kicked off, the wave of departing locals, laden with goodie bags gave the impression the game had been postponed, or I had got the kick-off time horribly wrong but, similar to the situation at Friday night’s opening game, it seems that is the trend here in Qatar.

Learning from that mistake, I allowed 90 minutes for the journey to Al Thumama from the hotel. Eight stops on the Green Line, then four on the Red to Free Zone.  Fifty or so buses had been lined up to shuttle the buses to somewhere near the stadium.  Five of us got off the metro and boarded one. This time the authorities changed the drop off point for the shuttle buses.  So rather than the mile walk, now it was longer.  What made it worse were the volunteers positioned every 20 metres or so pointing us in the direction of the stadium, with recorded messages telling us which way to walk.  I walked past immaculate training pitches, none of which were in use, empty car parking lots and little else.  

By the time I’d negotiated security and had to prove my phone charger wasn’t a vape or a pocket laser pointer, and that my camera lens was less than 10cm long, then climbed to the third level of the stadium, the teams were making their way out onto the pitch.  Looking around at the almost empty stadium you could only imagine thousands were still walking from the buses, cursing every cheery update on which direction the stadium was.  Slowly seats began to be taken but surprisingly, there was a lack of Japanese fans which was a real surprise.  Some of those that were there though were intent on recording the whole game on their phones, rather than actually watching the game.

After waiting 400 minutes to see another goal since Australia’s 2nd effort yesterday, I’d saw two within 15 minutes.  It was a cracking start to the game, with both sides going on the offensive.  A Japanese attack broke down but the ball fell to Monaco’s Takumi Minamino and he guided it into the net.  But five minutes later the pockets of Vietnam fans were in raptures when Nguyen Dinh Bac directed a backward glancing header from a corner that looped over the Japanese keeper and into the net at the far post.

It got better for them in the 33rd minute when Pham Tuan Hai was in the right place to tap home from a free-kick after the Japanese keeper couldn’t hold onto a header.  Could this be the shock of the tournament?  Alas no, Japan, wounded but not down, equalised as Minamino scored again when he was released into the box by skipper Wataru Endo, then guided a low shot past the keeper.

Minamino should have scored a third five minutes later but his shot was narrowly wide.  But Keito Nakamura had a better aim, curling the ball in from the edge of the box to put Japan back into the lead at half-time.

The goal took the sting out of Vietnam and they failed to show that same fighting spirit in the second half, despite some fervent support from the stands, with the neutrals cheering them on.  Whilst the deficit being just a single goal there was always a chance for them but in the 85th minute Japan’s Ayase Ueda put the game to bed with a shot from 12 yards.

Apparently, the official attendance was 17,385 which was probably around 12,000 overstated. Those who stayed away missed a superb game.  With an hour before kick-off four miles away at the Khalifa International Stadium, there was no way I was using public transport, getting there within 15 minutes by cab.