Disappointed

Started the day with an interview for an Austrian journalist named Martin Schauhuber who had contacted me to find out about the fan village we are staying at in Rawdat al Jahanniya . We tried to do a video call so he could ask me questions but it didn’t work on any platform so I recorded a video and sent it to him to show the conditions we were staying in . It’s less then ideal and not really that great …. Only reason we stayed is we have no choice with a zero refund policy and no other availability.

First match we went to was walking distance from our village so we went to the mall and had ice cream then go to the stadium to watch Japan vs. Costa Rica . I am not a fan of Costa Rica’s football fans . They are dicks . When we went there during qualifying they set off fireworks and booed our anthem , that was the ultimate disrespect from them and I will never forget it …. No excuses ! So if course I wanted them to lose . The game was good and Japan controlled the play for most of the game but late in the match Costa Rica scored to get them the 1-0 win which sucked hard . Left a sour taste in my mouth .

There is a stadium to stadium shuttle bus for games and our next game is Canada vs Croatia which is at Khalifa Stadium . The shuttle that took us there dropped us off about a 20 minute walk away from the stadium ??? Yeah that’s stupid right ? We figured the ice rink is in Vilaggio Mall right beside the stadium so we walked briskly to get there . I went to the front desk to see if I could get on the ice to play hockey but no beans as they said they had some ice dancing bullshit going on there … I asked if it was a 24 hour thing because I’d do this at any time of the day if possible and they bluntly said no but gave me the contact for the manager who I will try to contact asap . My dream of making Qatar country #45 is not over but it’s not looking good either .

We walked back to the stadium and got to our seats which are near the corner flag in the supporters section . On our way to our seats we grabbed drinks , this stadium has a policy of taking the caps from your pop/water bottles ?!?!? Talk about stupid … if I wanted to throw something , couldn’t I just throw the bottle ? What harm is a plastic cap gonna do ? Kathleen spilled her bottle and someone called the staff to mop it up . I felt no remorse as this is their idea and not ours to leave bottles uncapped .

The fellow in front of me turned around and said , Adrian ? And sure as heck it was one of the Qatar Qanucks players named Keith Loser who I have had on Facebook for ages and we had met while playing against each other in Dubai 2004 . What a small world :) it was great to see him and chat for a bit but now it’s game time .

Canada started off strongly by marching down the pitch and scoring their first ever World Cup goal and we went ballistic !!!! Jumping screaming yelling crying all at once . It was glorious , but then we went into defensive mode and Croatia is not a push over team . They made us pay with constant attacks at goal , good crossing and constantly found a striker in the middle of the pitch open . Our tactics were not right and don’t get me wrong , our team played hard but we were up against a much stronger opponent. In the end we lost 4-1 but I will forever hold that moment dear to me when people say where they were when we scored our first goal .

We were all bummed out but kept our chins up and stayed to clap our team off the pitch then met up with our friends to go for a drink at the pub . We took transit and made it to Stock Burger but it was full and we opted to jump in an Uber and went to Street 22 again , this time the place was hopping . We caught the Spain/Germany match which was great and I met a Villa supporter from South Africa and some Brummies who supported Birmingham City 👎…. To be fair they were good lads and we had some good friendly banter and traded contacts as they said they are coming to Canada for the next World Cup in 2026 which of course I plan to be at .

As the title says today was filled with disappointments but at the end of the day I got a few beers in me , hung out with friends and got to meet some interesting folks and that is truly the spirit of the World Cup . Being in an atmosphere dancing and having a great time with people from all walks of life is such a good feeling and I can’t say enough about my experience. I would do it all again !