Three years on from the Mexican adventure with my two great travel buddies, we were well overdue a post Covid meet up. I rather selfishly announced that my budget allowed for only one trip and with it being a World Cup year there was no debating that was going to be Qatar.
With Casey being a huge sports fan from New Jersey and Mexican Mick (Migsy) also having dual US nationality, my mission was to get hold of tickets for England vs USA. After two failed attempts in the ticket ballots and the sheer expected cost of the whole adventure I was starting to doubt whether I’d even attend. Those doubts hit their peak when I applied to be a FIFA volunteer. Thankfully, when the next round of tickets went on sale and the word ‘AVAILABLE’ popped up there was no way I could say no. I quickly checked other fixtures as well and also bought myself a ticket for England vs Wales before I was sensible enough to put the credit card away. Job done. The trip is on.
Time for planning
The doubts had been dispelled and my apologies were sent to the volunteering committee. No going back now, time for planning my first ever trip to the Middle East. Once the initial thrill had settled the reality of the situation hit home. Not being a sports fan, Migs wasn’t enamoured with the idea of travelling half way around the world to watch football in a country with numerous political and cultural issues and no well-known tourist attractions. First job was to sweeten the deal with a stop off elsewhere. A quick zoom call and search of the region and we lumped for Istanbul. A place that had recently come on my radar as a place I’d really love to visit so that was a very happy compromise.
Dodgy start to Istanbul
Arriving three days before Casey we agreed to see the wider city and leave the tourist sites for when he joined us. The trip didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts. On being dropped off at the hostel I was ripped off by the taxi driver, then on getting wifi saw a message from Migsy saying…
‘I’m getting scammed, I can’t get away’
Half an hours silence followed leaving me rather worried but in the end all was well, although $200 lighter and a damaged ego. We were staying in a hostel close to the infamous Taksim Square and a short walk from Istiklal where days earlier there had been a terrorist bomb, tragically killing 6 people.
From my top bunk it was 4 floors down a spiral staircase to the only bathroom. The thin layer of water across the floor felt akin to a swimming baths changing room. Knowing I wouldn’t mind a beverage or ten the next night I feared for my safety. So the next morning we upgraded to a private room a few km away for a few extra dollars. Only the second time in my now 54 countries visited that I’ve ever left somewhere early, following a lice infestation in Buenos Aires.
The drama continues
Day 2 didn’t get much better if I’m honest, after completing a 5km run – my first ever whilst on holiday, a sure sign of getting old – I was taking a shortcut between two roads which – unbeknownst to me – was the territory of stray dogs. A rather unfriendly bark was enough to notify me, but his pal wasn’t satisfied to see me scuttling away. This one gave chase and did his best to take a chunk out my arm. Thankfully I was just out of their domain in time for them to proceed with a full on mauling but nonetheless the incident didn’t endear me any more to this city.
If you’ve read any of my posts before you’ll know how keen I am on ticking off countries where I’ve watched football. With the World C
up on the horizon it was only second tier fixtures still being played in Turkey. First place Eyupspor were at home to rivals Goztepe. A little trip across the city and the excitement was building, but, in keeping with the trip so far on trying to purchase the tickets we were greeted with those horrible words. ‘Sold Out’. There is little more frustrating in the groundhopping world than being around a stadium with a great atmosphere building knowing you aren’t going inside. Oh well, a good reason to return some day to see one of the Big Three.
The World Cup begins
As it happened, missing the game enabled us to watch the opening match of the Qatar World Cup and await Casey’s arrival. Always such a pleasure to catch up with a friend after three years and the excitement started to build, the adventure began to feel more real as Ecuador strolled to victory and we added detail to our plans for the next 10 days.
The next day England set about their mission for glory. 18 months on from falling at the final hurdle at Wembley and 56 years from their last major success. The Three Lions had struggled in the 6 months leading up to the tournament but the calibre of players in the squad meant expectations were still high, especially after the Lionesses had done such an incredible job and finally bought football home in the summer.
Time for England
Sadly for me this was the first (proper) England World Cup game I hadn’t attended since Germany cheated their way past us in 2010 in South Africa. The next best thing was to be in an Irish Pub a few hours before kick-off drinking beer and singing songs. But this is one of those holidays, a few delayed site seeing trips, heavy downpours and rush hour traffic meant the plan was all falling apart. To say I was majorly pissed off to be sat watching England’s opener with no sound in an expensive Turkish restaurant was a gross understatement. Aside from my inability to fully enjoy it. What an incredible start. England looked as competent and accomplished as they had since the Euros as they dismantled Iran comfortably with 79% possession. 6-2 was more than anyone could have expected as we set our stall out for the tournament.
It wasn’t all bad though, a great catch up with friends and a place I will definitely return to for a football centric trip with the Meadows Bro’s. Next time I’ll steer well clear of the cities hundreds of thousands of stray dogs.
The next night we enjoyed a Mexican party as they salvaged a draw with Poland after Saudi Arabia shocked the world beating Argentina in one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, but our time in Istanbul was coming to a close. Our pre-tournament warm up was done and we were ready for the main event. Bring on Qatar!