Stephen (@StephenJBaker) takes a look at the road travelled by Cymru fans and ahead to the joy of really being part of the World Cup.
Cymru are in the Football World Cup, yes I will say those seven sweet words again. Cymru are in the Football World Cup. I never thought in my lifetime I would be saying World Cup, Cymru and Football in the same sentence.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe good but mostly bad old days
Of course, we have been in the World Cup before but that was in Black & White. Back in 1958 where most of the country didn’t even know we were taking part. One player was even asked on his return if he had been on holiday because they hadn’t seen him recently. That was it; nothing to do with the World Cup in the 60’s, nothing in the 70’s unless you count us sending a referee to piss off a generation of Brazilian fans. 80’s, 90’s, 00’s & 10’s nothing, zero, dim.
Embed from Getty ImagesWe’ve been close in that time, oh so close. Sometimes we were just a hand away and other times just the width of a crossbar. Along with defeats snatched from the jaws of victory on too many occasions to count or to write about without spending the rest of the evening in tears.
Embed from Getty ImagesA dry spell some would say, yes it was a dry spell that would have killed off the dinosaurs. So many times, there were trips to the Travel Agency that were planned during half time because this time it’s going to happen. Only for those plans to be cancelled 20 minutes later. So many wasted Google searches trying to find out how much a pint costs in Russia, Korea, South Africa …
Embed from Getty ImagesNormally this close to the World Cup we are picking which team to support, usually it is the team we pick out in the sweepstake in work. Trying not to act smug that you pull out Brazil and telling a co-worker who doesn’t follow football that they are lucky to get Panama. Also, alongside that sweepstake team we adopt the three other teams in a certain group … we all know which group I’m talking about.
Embed from Getty ImagesY Wal Goch on the move
But that’s all in the past now, we are finally there. Y Wal Goch will be transported out to Qatar in the coming weeks and rebuilt in the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium. Sadly, many won’t make it due to the unbelievable cost or on moral grounds. But we will be back home packing out bars and living rooms all around this great country of ours, along with the thousands of expats around the world waving Y Ddraig Goch. Wherever you are in the world, you are only a few minutes away from a Welsh person.
Embed from Getty ImagesIf this journey only lasts 8 days or if The Sons of Speed come back home the week before Christmas with a present for us all, we will enjoy every second of it. The noise when the first goal goes in, when the final whistle goes to confirm our victory against a certain country. Whether you have been on this ride a long time or just gotten on and think that this qualifying business is easy, sit back and enjoy every minute.
Mascot image courtesy of Mahtab Mehedi, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons