Tag: World Cup
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England 0 USA 0
Friday 25th November 2022 10pm – The FIFA World Cup – Al Bayt Stadium, Doha (just) Ah the best laid plans. The decision to leave Khalifa and not trying to get in at half-time meant I was on a bus heading north to Al Bayt at 7:45pm. Plenty of time for the 30 mile journey…
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Netherlands 1 Ecuador 1
Friday 25th November 2022 7pm – The FIFA World Cup – Stadium Khalifa, Doha If the walk from the Metro drop off at the Al Thumami was long (1 3/4 miles) then the trek to the bus park was even longer. I’d manage to clock up 10,000 steps just getting to and from the public…
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Qatar 1 Senegal 3
Friday 25th November 2022 4pm – The FIFA World Cup – The Al-Thumama Stadium, Doha Having started the day of football with a simple journey west to the Ahmad Bin Ali, game two was going to be a bit of a trek thanks to the location of the Al Thumama Stadium. It wasn’t that it…
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Iran 2 Wales 0
Friday 25th November 2022 1pm – The FIFA World Cup – Stadium Ahmad Bin Ali, Doha After the decision not to head to the Brazil game, and deny myself of 4 games in a day, I headed back to the cruise ship. It had been the longest day so far, having initially landed at 6am…
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Switzerland 1 Cameroon 0
The Al-Janoub Stadium – Doha, Qatar – Thursday 24th November 2022 – 1pm Three hours after I had arrived in Doha I was on a bus from Souq Waqif, heading south towards the Al-Janoub Stadium as part of a 48-hour, six (or seven) game adventure in the desert. There would be little in the way…
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The ICC T20 World Cup
I’m not sure that any objective of increasing the interest in the game in the UAE will work on the back of this tournament. There wasn’t many neutral local fans – the support came from expats or migrant workers by the looks of the games we saw. It perhaps was a bizarre choice for the…
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1966 and Not All That
The England squad that travelled to the 1962 World Cup in Chile had to endure a flight with two separate changes to Lima where they played a warm up game against Peru before moving onto Santiago, then Rancagua where they would play their group games and then bus to their base in the Braden Copper…
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On the twelfth day of TBIR Christmas – The best things about football in 2014
I came very close to being in Brazil. Very close in an all-expenses paid trip to Sao Paolo to write about it, sort of way, but passed up the opportunity and Rookery Mike went instead. We haven’t spoken since. Due to my travelling schedule I spent nearly the whole of the tournament in various corners…
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Five things from….Argentina 0 Germany 1
Footballers never look comfortable wearing ties but Rio has taken this smart look to a new level, with his blazer and orange tie, last seen on the Easyjet flight from Malaga to Liverpool. Surely, someone in wardrobe must have said to him he looked a little silly? Or did he simply buy the outfit on…
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The Golden Generation of German football
Whilst the likes of Martin Cranie, Nedum Onuoha, Mark Noble and Michael Mancienne have failed to progress further than the Under 21’s, the Germans have continued to produce young talent, constantly pushing them into the national team if they are deemed good enough. In the squad that got on the plane for Brazil, nine were…
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Five things from….Brazil 0 Netherlands 3
Nothing like being in the spotlight to really show your qualities. I remember punching above my weight when I played for a number of sides in my youth. You naturally raise your game. But here is David Luiz, fresh from leading the Brazilian defence into the worst defeat in their history, perfectly setting up Blind…
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Five things from….Netherlands 0 Costa Rica 0
The stars of the tournament so far have been the keepers. Howard, Neuer, Ospina and Costa Rica’s Navas have all been outstanding. In fact every keeper could probably say they have performed on the world’s stage. Well, Iker Casillas excepted. Navas once again put in a fantastic shift, although probably felt that he would have…
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Five things from….Brazil 2 Colombia 1
The host nation have stumbled through to this stage, playing unconvincingly in every game, bar an hour of the opening game against Croatia. They relied on penalties to beat Chile whilst Colombia have got stronger as the tournament has progressed, with James Rodriquez the man of the moment. The days of loveable, laughable Higuita, Asprilla…
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Five things from….France 0 Germany 1
I am in love with that camera that zooms across the pitch at grass level as the teams walk out…I want to see more of those camera angles during the game, tracking the runs of the players. Apart from the annoying super slow motion replays I think the camera work in the tournament has been…
The Ball is Round 