Sunday 14th January 2024 – The Asian Cup – Khalifa International Stadium, Doha
The taxi dropped me off at Sport City metro, providing a superb view of the Khalifa International Stadium and the Aspire Tower, a five-star hotel and the second tallest building in the country. There were certainly more fans milling around outside than there had been at the earlier game, but still not many.
The Khalifa International Stadium is the focal point of the Aspire Zone, a complex of swanky building that are supposed to underpin the development of elite, world class athletes and sports people. The adjacent Aspire Dome is the world’s largest indoor sports hall, with 13 different pitches inside. There’s also a dedicated hospital that treats sporting injuries although I’m not sure it would include treatment for David James’ back injury caused by reaching for the TV remote control or Dave Beasant’s foot injury caused by trying to stop a bottle of salad cream smashing on the floor. In summary, it is an area of the city that is dedicated to sport (if only they could come up with a catchy name for it) with a shopping centre, a couple of five-star hotels and an air-conditioned park.
The stadium is the only multi-purpose one in Qatar and was the centre-point of the country’s failed bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. It was built nearly 50 years ago – the fact it is still standing is quite unique for anything in Doha. There was a plan to increase the capacity to 68,000 for the 2022 FIFA World Cup but instead the decision was made to add a single tier to bring it up to 46,000. Little known fact, unless like me you read its Wikipedia entry – the stadium was the first in the world to receive a four-star rating from the Global Sustainability Assessment System. It was also the first to have air conditioning installed, enabling the pitch temperature to be dialled down to a cool 24 degrees.
When the ticket fiasco started back in November, the only game I was able to purchase for was this one, and only in category 1 at a price of £12. My seat was consequently top-notch, two seats off centre and with a stunning view of the Aspire Tower lit up as the sun set.
The two teams emerged, with Hong Kong, the lowest ranked side in the tournament, being announced as Hong Kong, China as if there were two different sides in the competition with the same name. Their fans, the tournament organisers plants, all dressed in red shirts, all waving little Hong Kong (China) flags politely clapped then in unison broke into chanting. The UAE fans made up the majority of the 15,586 crowd, unsure whether to chant “UAE”, “Emirates” or “United” so they stayed mostly quiet.
This was game number six for me and I’d yet to see a VAR pitch side review. Fear not because we had plenty in this game. After some positive exchanges by both sides, and with the young UAE fans giving a running commentary next to me that was effectively the back catalogue of 1970s porn film noises, we got to the half-hour mark goal less.
A minute later and Sultan Adil’s shot appeared to hit a Hong Kong player’s arm. Play on waved the referee and Hong Kong broke. The ball went into the UAE area and a challenge came in, appearing to take the ball and the player. The referee stopped play, listened to the voice in his ear and ran over to the pitch-side monitor. Sixty seconds later he returned, and pointed to the spot but not to Hong Kong, but to UAE for handball. Adil stepped up and converted the spot kick.
Half-time and a chance to try something new from the official list of food and beverages – a Pizza Pouch, which was a cold sort of cheese croissant with a tomato and herb filling. May have been OK lukewarm, but was awful cold. 2/10.
Hong Kong came out for the second half full of determination and drew level in the 50th minute when Philip Can Siu Kwan slotted home a superb cross from the left hand side, their first goal in the competition for 68 years. A minute later and they were kicking-off again as Zayed Sultan was the quickest to react to the Hong Kong keeper spilling the ball and it was 2-1.
In the 73rd minute UAE felt they had another penalty when there appeared to be a handball in the area from a corner. The referee said no, but was called over to the monitor, and unusually, stuck with his original decision. Hong Kong was still in the game as it entered the final minute. Matt Orr saw his header well saved by the UAE keeper, which turned out to be their last chance of normal time. Nine minutes of extra time to be played.
With two of those minutes played Hong Kong conceded a penalty. VAR got involved again and this time the referee’s decision was upheld. Yahya Al Ghassani stepped up and put the ball into the bottom corner.
But the VAR drama wasn’t finished. In the 101st minute Michael Udebuluzor thought he’d scored for Hong Kong but on review by the VAR team he was deemed to have handled the ball as he took the ball past the UAE defender.
Finally, it was all over. An excellent game of football, played in a great spirit by two fairly well-matched sides. My final game would see me return to base camp at Education City, via the metro, for what promised to be an emotional match between Iran and Palestine.
The Ball is Round 
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