A Welsh World Cup Adventure in 64 Pictures
Introduction
The following images are a selection of the photos which I took either in Wales just before the men’s football World Cup, or in Qatar, during the tournament itself.
I’ve featured 64 photos – one for each year Wales waited for our moment in the World Cup sun.
If anyone recalls snapping any of the pictures I’ve included (i.e. the ones I’m in!), then please let me know and I’ll happily credit you. Otherwise the photos I’ve featured are mine.
Index
PART ONE: Where did the Wales World Cup Adventure Begin?
PART TWO: Wales Gets Ready and Very Excited!
PART THREE: The Football Family
PART FOUR: On Reflection: We’ve done it! But How Strange
PART ONE: Where Did The Wales World Cup Adventure Begin?
Some will argue that it was John Toshack and Brian Flynn who set Wales on the road to Euro and World Cup qualifications. These two coaches gave Gareth Bale et al their early experiences of international football.
I remember being in Austria when Gareth Bale made his Welsh debut against Trinidad & Tobago. It was way back in May 2006 when he was aged just 16 years, 315 days, which at the time made him Wales’s youngest-ever player.
For the record Wales won the match (a World Cup warm-up for the opposition) 2-1 with goals from Robert Earnshaw – his second following an assist from debutant Bale.
After the Toshack/Flynn years, names associated with the men’s national team’s renaissance included Chris Coleman, Ashley Williams and Osian Roberts. These and many others made a significant contribution to establishing Wales as a robust national side, whilst also reconnecting the team with its support base.
Of course Gary Speed is remembered with great affection by fans as both a player and manager.
Gary is credited by many of the current squad (who he coached throughout 2011) as providing the team with modern professional standards, as well as a belief that they could compete with anyone.
Many Welsh fans including this father and his two sons (who I photographed in Qatar) view Gary Speed’s contribution to the national side’s development as fundamental and underpinned our journey to Qatar.
PART TWO: Wales Gets Ready and Very Excited!
Panini is Believing!!
All the official World Cup merchandise which featured Wales made our participation that much more believable!
Amazing! A Cardiff bus with a belief in the road ahead
Other than those with disdain for, or an indifference towards sport, World Cup anticipation in Wales seemed to have a momentum all of its own.
The palpable excitement for the tournament encompassed young and old alike, in part probably because for the vast majority the World Cup was a passing comet that few had seen before.
An example of the younger generation’s involvement came from my son Rhys, who attends a Cardiff Welsh language school. Every day – from my home studio – I could hear the children practising the Welsh team’s adopted anthem “YMA O HYD.”
Indeed Rhys and his class mate Dylan even made an animation film ahead of the World Cup which depicted Gareth Bale scoring a goal!
One Week to Go!
Cardiff was awash with World Cup promotions like this window display at the Old Arcade pub in the city centre
OK! Time to Check My World Cup Checklist!
- Mug and shirt logos designed! CHECK!
- Welsh shirt wardrobe sorted for the trip! CHECK!
- Bucket hats bought by the bucket load! CHECK!
- Level of anticipation through the roof! CHECK!
5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - We Have Blast Off!
18 November 2022. After a night at a Heathrow airport hotel with a few drinks to settle the nerves, we were ready for the adventure! Fellow fan Tim Evans and I probably didn’t need to fly with our bucket hats on, but it seemed to add to the ambiance!
Mae'r Ddraig yn Hedfan (The Dragon Flies!)
Two cups of tea and two gin and tonics please – here comes trouble!!
The Dragons Have Landed!
Once again we find ourselves staying at some shabby dive!!
Cerdded Rownd Y Dre (Walking Around the Town)
Happy Road!
Flags, Scarves, Hats – Wales were in Town!
Hats Off to Wales in Cardiff and Doha
We’re Not Lost in the Super Market
The Dragon is Branded – and Highly Visible!
A fire down below – Welsh flames of passion are displayed on the Metro transport system
The World Cup Party!
Day and Night – Wales were a feature of the World Cup Promotional Landscape
Above: A lone Doha Dhow flies the Welsh flag. Photo taken by Nicholas from Switzerland.
Above: A lone Welsh flag helps light up the Doha skyline
Wales, Wales Burning Bright
Sent to a Tent: The Opening Ceremony and Game
We travelled 35km from Doha to the Al-Bayt Stadium which had a 60,000 capacity, a retractable roof and was air-conditioned.
The stadium design was said to have be inspired by the traditional tents of the nomadic peoples of Qatar, with the black, white and red colours a reference to the traditional nomadic tents.
The Opening Ceremony
As camels were paraded at pitch level, above the desert sky was temporarily scarred by fireworks during the Opening Ceremony.
The Opening Game: Qatar v Ecuador
Despite the well-choreographed opening ceremony and the first footie game since we’d arrived in Qatar 48 hours earlier, our thoughts were focused on our World Cup game against the USA the next day.
Leaving the Tent – We may be gone for some time!
The USA v Wales: Now it Was Our Turn!
Possibly outnumbered – but never out sung, the Welsh Anthem focussed attention on our team and our nation’s participation in the World Cup Finals!
Together Stronger
Game on:
USA (population: 335,983,303) v
Wales (population 3,107,500 – including the five outlaws below!)
Our happy bunch!
Final Score: USA 1 Wales 1
I was so immersed in the first Wales World Cup match of my lifetime that I didn’t even take any photos of the game itself!
At the Final Whistle the Boys had Clearly Given Everything
Our following games and results against Iran and England speak for themselves, but being part of the World Cup party was an extraordinary experience. To be acknowledged as a nation in our own right was exhilarating. It felt surreal for me to be in the Middle East and to hear announcements over stadium PA system in the Welsh language.
In my opinion, sport provided Cymru with a platform for the country to promote itself. The overwhelming majority of the Welsh supporters also played their part by representing the best of our nation’s values of tolerance.
The contribution of Gareth, Arron, Joe et al!
The World Cup was also a reminder of how our senior players had been on a journey with us (and us with them). Although we couldn’t be certain at the time, the England match proved to be Gareth Bale’s last in a Welsh shirt.
My two photos (below) were separated by well over a decade and help illustrate the time span over which Gareth Bale became part of our nation’s football story.
Diolch Gareth, not least for turning up for Wales when others players didn’t always do so at the start of your career. You helped lead the way for a 100% commitment to the dragon.
Two World Cups
You wait for ages for a World Cup to arrive, and then two arrive at the same time! What I mean by this is watching Wales was for many of us OUR World Cup. Lots of fans travelled with a plan to exclusively see Wales.
Wales being at the World Cup was also my only reason for being at the World Cup. There was however the ‘bonus’ of watching the OTHER World Cup, by attending games which didn’t have the same emotional commitment (or sometimes turmoil) that accompanies supporting Wales
During my ‘other’ World Cup, I was fortunate to see the teams listed below, and to squeeze in – along with other fans – some of the sights of Doha.
The teams I watched other than Wales were; Qatar, Ecuador, USA, Poland, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Canada, Cameroon, Portugal, Ghana, Iran, England, Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica, Spain, Brazil, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Mexico, Croatia and Serbia, I think that was 24 national sides in total.
Mexico v Saudi Arabia
Sightseeing
Doha sightseeing: Sitting on the dock of the bay
…Sittin’ in the mornin’ sun. I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comes
Night time camel rides in Doha’s Souq Waqif Old Town
PART THREE: The Football Family
Football provides so many of us with immediate and extended family.
Even if our football family is at times spread far and wide, we still speak a common cultural language and reuniting can be so rewarding
I’ve been great mates with Keith Tabatznik from Washington DC for over 40 years (he was best man at my wedding in Switzerland in 2003). Despite our decades of friendship, Wales and the USA have never met in a competitive match. So here we are at a World Cup Finals – the best of mates, although the picture was taken before a ball was kicked in anger!
More pictures from the Football Family album
The Sheriff rounds up those Pesky Outlaws!
With the giant Gareth Bale building banner in the background, the boys meet Welsh rugby legend Ken Owens, aka the Sheriff.
For clarification Ken’s the fittest looking one in the photo to the right!
It’s Not Unusual
Thousands of Welsh fans attended the 2022 World Cup Finals and – as previously alluded to – it wasn’t unusual for the Welsh supporters to be typified by their good humour and their open engagement with the fans of other nations.
An example of ‘Welsh goodwill’ came from our Wales team which competed in the Fans Cup.
Captained by James Evans Our Boys were true Welsh Ambassadors on and off the field!
Continuing the football family theme, another of our football brothers is Bradley Patton from the USA (the shirt logo is the giveaway). Brad is pictured wearing one of my football shirt designs in the streets of Doha, then later he’s snapped on the left of a famous former US international player, but do you know his identity?
Answer is at the end of this post.
As I’ve said, the football family resides in all four corners of the world.
Below are just a few of the fans who I snapped in Qatar .They were supporting Cameroon, Switzerland, Morocco and Japan.
In the coming weeks a post will appear on livingoffside.com entitled Dragons, Eagles & Others: Fans at the 2022 World Cup.
This post will feature my photographs, as well as your World Cup pictures.
Due to the World Cup taking place in a small country, it meant that the Metro transport system became a constantly changing kaleidoscope of cultures as fans crisscrossed Qatar
PART FOUR: On Reflection: We’ve done it! But How Strange
We’ve done it, but How Strange!
I have spent decades on the Welsh conveyer-belt of extreme fan expectation, which in the kick of a ball was nearly always replaced by excruciating frustration. Rekindled optimism was however a prerequisite before each new qualifying campaign.
Throughout these bumpy emotional rides, participation in a World Cup remained our Holy Grail. It will therefore be strange to start other tournament qualifications without it being underscored by an unfulfilled desire to know what World Cup participation tastes like!
Let’s hope for more fireworks on the road to Germany in 2024 as well as for Canada, Mexico & the USA in 2026.
Final Thoughts
In terms of World Cup footballing success would we liked to have…?
Scored more goals? Yes!
Got to the later stages of the completion? Yes!!
Beaten England and enjoyed the bragging rights for years to come? Yes!
Would we have wanted to miss out on Our World Cup Adventure? Not for one second!!
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Above were 64 pictures from the men’s football World Cup 2022 – I hope they brought back some memories of an adventure that was decades in the making.
Cheers
Tim
Answer to the question: Who is the famous former US international soccer player pictured next to our mate Brad, the answer is, Panayotis Alexander “Alexi” Lalas
Great article and photos Tim, nice to see myself and Mark there in the home & away bucket hats over looking the Water and Doha City. Memories that will live forever. It was great to meet you and share a taxi back after the Switzerland v Cameroon game, even bumping into Roy Hodgson for a chat in the Souq !
Great to see all those pics and relive the awesome time at the WC ! Hopefully there will be more of these here in the States in 2026!!
Fantastic article and photos – memories will last a lifetime and great to catch up at the World Cup.
Fantastic Tim, reading this brought floods of emotion and memories of being there plus taking part as captain of the 5 a side wales team.
Love the pictures and meeting you all made it the best experience. We go again for Euro 2024 and WC 2026 (I hope :D).
Thank you so much.
James
Rekindled very happy memories through some lovely photographs of a fantastic 3 weeks rubbing shoulders with the world’s elite. Diolch
Brilliant photos Tim as always!