Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
A Wale ho Wler
Dragons heading back to the green green grass of hom
IT was a domestic rivalry played out more than 3,000 miles away — and the streets of England and Wales were deserted as people stayed indoors to watch last night’s David vs Goliath clash.
While around 20,000 die-hard fans from the two countries made the pilgrimage to see the final Qatar World Cup Group B game, an estimated 20 million watched at home – roughly equal to one in three of the UK population.
Pubs were packed with patriotic punters transfixed by the Battle of Britain.
It ended with the Welsh players heading for the green, green grass of home after an historic World Cup finals – their first since 1958.
Loud cheering erupted at a pub in Chinatown, central London, when
Marcus Rashford booted in England’s first goal soon after the second half began.
It had barely died down when Phil Foden scored the second.
Shop worker Ben Charlton, 26, said: “That’s more like it, now we just need to press on.”
The pub was taken over by football fans, some wearing their England shirts for the evening.
When Rashford thumped in his second goal and England’s third of the game, chants of “It’s coming home” were unleashed.
Rashford left the field after 75 minutes with a big smile and a warm embrace from manager Gareth Southgate.
After a miserable two-and-a-half years of on-off Covid lockdowns, supporters were finally free to let their hair down and embraced goodnatured banter and revelry as the lipsmacking fixture finally got under way.
It was the first time two UK nations had been pitted against each other on football’s biggest stage. And on a momentous night, pubs and fan parks were standing room only.
Such was demand to watch the big match some were turned away from Boxpark venues in Croydon, Shoreditch and Wembley, which have become go-to venues for the extravaganza.
FANS
Similar scenes were witnessed in Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and in Manchester, where tens of thousands of raucous fans flooded into Victoria Warehouse and The Trafford Centre, which have become dedicated fan zones.
Across the country, cinemas became pop-up stadiums for 90 minutes and supermarkets reported a run on food and drink. Despite a deepening cost of living crisis an estimated 30 million pints were sunk to settle nerves during a tense 90 minutes.
Last night’s frivolities were not just confined to boozers, either.
Hours after switching on the Downing Street Christmas lights, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak turned Number 10 into his own fan zone as he hosted a (booze-free) World Cup party for a group of excited young footballers from England and Wales.
In the pubs, however, the boozefuelled party atmosphere across Britain last night was in stark contrast to that at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Ar-rayyan, 20km west of the Qatari capital Doha, where pints of beer — where available — cost fans at least £12. The average in the UK is £4.07. At
Bookie honours Ronaldo goal bet despite ruling
the end of the game it was cheers for the Three Lions and tears for Wales. But at least hard-pressed publicans came out on top.
They are now crossing their fingers and hoping England continue their march all the way to the final and go one better than four years ago when they were dumped out at the semi-final stage by Croatia.
Emma Mcclarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “Pubs are hoping the World Cup will provide a boost for business during a difficult time.
“Many will be making use of investment made in outside space and equipment during the pandemic to ensure fans enjoy the tournament whatever the weather. There really is no better place to enjoy a game than with a pint in hand at the pub,” she continued.
BOOKMAKER Paddy Power has paid out on Cristiano Ronaldo scoring against Uruguay - despite World Cup officials ruling he did not touch the ball.
The Portugal legend ran off celebrating as if he had flicked in ex Manchester United team mate Bruno Fernandes’ cross to give his team the lead.
Replays appeared to show not a strand of Ronaldo’s hair touched the ball — and officials credited the goal to Fernandes.
FIFA’S ball technology later “conclusively” proved Ronaldo did not touch the ball — despite his exuberant celebrations.
But bookie Paddy Power said: “When we sense something that just doesn’t sit right our PP [Paddy Power] Online bean counters hit the big red button to at least right the wrong from a punting point of view. “The world’s bestknown free agent Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to, or at least claimed to, get his head on a Bruno Fernandes cross...who are we to argue with CR7?” they asked.