Game 3: Spain v Costa Rica Al Thumama Stadium With our next match a 7pm kick-off and the fact that our first two days had been completely dominated by football-watching, we decided that we ought to have a stroll and see what Doha was really like. We walked down from our apartment to Souq Waqif, […]
Game 1: Netherlands v Senegal Al Thumama Stadium Al Thumama Stadium before The Netherlands v Senegal match After watching about half an hour of the England v Iran game, a sizeable chunk of which was taken up by treatment for the Iran goalkeeper after a clash of heads with his own defender, the continuous replays […]
By now we all know how Qatar “won” the rights to host the 2022 World Cup. How FIFA’s ongoing corruption allowed them to essentially buy it; and why their appalling treatment of migrant workers, attitudes to women and the LGBTQ+ community, the astronomical cost of building the stadiums and infrastructure, the necessity to move the […]
Love him, hate him, regard him as one of, if not the greatest players of all time, or simply a cheat and someone whose behaviour and lifestyle inevitably destroyed him, no one will ever forget Diego Armando Maradona and the mark he made on the history of football, or indeed on society as whole. Like […]
In case you missed: Part 1: https://football-nerd.org/2018/07/17/four-go-on-a-russian-world-cup-adventure-part-1-moscow-saturday-16th-of-june-to-monday-18th-of-june-2018/) Part 2: https://football-nerd.org/2018/07/18/four-go-on-a-russian-world-cup-adventure-part-2-still-moscow-tuesday-19th-of-june-wednesday-20th-june-2018/ Wednesday 20th June (continued) The hotel was only about a twenty minute walk from the station and after we had checked in, (stone cold sober we hasten to add!), we headed down to the bar to watch Portugal beat Morocco and sample […]
Part of being an utterly hopeless football obsessive means that the World Cup is absolute heaven; ever since immersing myself in Espana 82 while on holiday on the Costa del Sol, I absolutely relish every tournament when it comes round. In many ways I still retain the character traits of that nine-year old boy who […]
almost unbelievably, one of them is England. It is probably fair to say that Gareth Southgate and his team have far exceeded the expectations of a nation that had developed apathy towards the national football team after recent dismal tournament showings. If it was possible to question England’s credentials after the penalty shootout win over […]
Well wasn’t that absolutely typical? Didn’t you just know that if England were to reach the Quarter Finals they would do it the hard way and in dramatic fashion? Just when those of us struggling to keep the faith after recent tournament failings had started to believe again, England did what they always do, except […]
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