A Swindon Town fan who has been in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup has returned from the Middle East after disappointment for the England national team.
Sam Skeates, 34, has been in Qatar for around three weeks to watch the football and the Town fan managed to view over 20 games while he was out there before landing at Stansted airport.
“It has been a long few days because of the anticipated flight issues and prices due to the weather problems,” he explained.
“I went via Istanbul for a couple of days in what could be called climatisation!”
Despite only being in the capital city for a short period of time, football fanatic Sam could not do without live games, so the Town supporter attended a game in the TFF First League of Turkey.
“Istanbul was good as I went to a few of the stadiums including Besiktas and Galatasaray whilst also visiting many of the tourist areas of Istanbul,” he said.
“I also went to a fixture between Pendikspor and Sakaryaspor while I was out there.”
Meanwhile, the cold snap has been in full flow in Swindon with temperatures being low and snow being visible, providing quite the contrast for Sam upon arrival.
“What a shock to the system it was coming back into this weather,” he laughed.
“I have been used to temperatures from 28 degrees plus in Qatar but when I landed in Stansted to be told by the pilot that it was minus four degrees. I was dreading going outside!”
The sights were not the only highlights of Sam’s Turkish stopover though as the Swindon native also took full advantage of the European beverage prices.
“I managed to watch the Argentina versus Croatia semi-final in a bar on my last night there,” he said.
“It was nice to only be spending two pounds on a pint after a few weeks of paying a lot more than that!”
In Qatar, England fell short of the trophy though, going out to current world champions France in a painful 2-1 quarter-final defeat which included a late penalty miss from captain Harry Kane that Sam saw live.
“I am gutted as we played so well and did not deserve to lose that,” he relented.
“But that is part of being an England fan unfortunately as hopes, dreams and heartbreak go hand in hand with it.”
Sam still enjoyed the experience and met several famous faces during his time in Qatar including Jude Bellingham, Mason Mount and Laura Woods.
After initially having as many as 32 teams in the tournament, only two sides remain in the World Cup with Argentina and France facing off against one another in Sunday’s final.
Of the 32 teams, Sam managed to watch 30 of them but interestingly Argentina were one of the only two sides that he did not see live with the other being Ecuador.
Despite this, the Town fan still believes that Lionel Messi and the Albiceleste boys will triumph in Lusail at the weekend.
“I can’t see anything other than an Argentina win on Sunday so I will go 3-1 with a Messi brace and yet another man-of-the-match performance,” he said.
“From what I have seen of France, they are more than happy to let the other team keep possession and counter against that which I don’t think you can do against an in-form attacking Argentina side.”
Argentina will contest France in the World Cup final at Qatar’s Lusail Stadium on Sunday.
Kick-off is scheduled for 3pm GMT and live coverage will be available on BBC One.
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