WHY THE ENGLAND MATCH AGAINST SWEDEN GAME IS MAKE OR BREAK FOR DUBAI COUPLE
▶ He’s on one side, she’s on the other and only one will advance to World Cup semis
Come Saturday, Joe Lipscombe’s affections will be torn between 11 men (plus the substitutes) and one very special woman.
England will face Sweden on Saturday in Samara, south-west Russia, in a World Cup quarter-final showdown that is especially poignant for the British expat.
Mr Lipscombe met his Swedish girlfriend Madeleine Gulldhe in Dubai two years ago, but Saturday’s game will put them on opposing sides – for one night that is.
Mr Lipscombe is a big football fan. He follows the English Premier League closely, cheering on Manchester United and, come World Cup time, he bought a beIN sports package without a second thought.
In fact, he even went a step farther by building a fan zone of sorts in his house, and he sends out an invitation to his friends any time a game is on. For the opener, he had about 10 people in, and these days for any given match he usually has three or five friends around.
Until recently, Ms Gulldhe was quite the opposite, he says. She had not much cared for football. But that all changed when the couple were in Sweden while her compatriots were squaring off against Germany.
“She hated football. I had to work really hard to get her involved, I was like, ‘come on, be a little bit patriotic’,” Mr Lipscombe said.
“While we were in Sweden we went out and bought some shirts, and bought some for my nephews – who aren’t even old enough to know what Sweden is. We watched the game at the airport and it was amazing. She got really emotional and now it’s completely changed. She’s so into her team, she’s loving it.”
Which is where things might get interesting for the clash. While Mr Lipscombe is adamant that England are going to walk away victors, he’s not sure what Ms Gulldhe’s outlook on the game is.
In fact, they’ve barely spoken about it because they are well aware of how awkward things might get.
“We’re at a bit of a crossroads,” he says. “When Sweden lost to Germany, she didn’t speak to me for an hour.”
While Mr Lipscombe is not entirely sure where they’ll be watching the game, he thinks Ms Gulldhe might even head back to Sweden to watch it – such is her newfound love for the sport. “I don’t think we can watch it together. What happens if all my friends are cheering on England and then we eliminate Sweden?” Mr Lipscombe said.
“And what happens if they beat us, we’ll have five or six English guys crying in front of her.
“Hopefully if she does that we can have the house here and I can take down the Sweden stuff.”
Whatever happens though, Mr Lipscombe is fairly confident they’ll be able to put aside their differences once the final whistle is blown. Hopefully.
“I said to her if this happens, if we go through, we’ll love each other no matter what, but we need to set some ground rules here – no swearing at each other, no one’s allowed to gloat if they win, but I can’t be expected to hold back my emotions if England get into their first semi-final in my lifetime.”