Yes...you can see where i mean...Gala Bingo, not the GeldeDome! Anyway all four stands are pretty much the same just as all grounds do one of the side stands was bigger due to boxes and other corporate stuff. After having a quick wander round and spotting several more England fans around the ground we went and picked up our tickets. No problems there, handed over my ID and copy of the e-mail and as per instruction and they handed over the tickets.
After a short wait we made our way into the ground, bar-coded tickets which worked very well. Off and up into the ground, inside the ground it is near enough exactly the same size as Wigan.
Below is the stand that was to our left;
Below is the stand opposite which had all the boxes etc in...
The stand to the right...
Thats my best effort at a panoramic photo taking 3 photo's! so i dont think i'll be giving up the day job just yet.
Though i did manage to take a good picture (considering the angle) of Petes England flag...
As we walked through both sets of players were out walking around the pitch having a feel for what its like on the moveable pitch.
As nothing was happening we went back into the concourse and attempted to buy some food, to find that in the Gelderdome you need to buy a smart-card/voucher thing to the value of 5, 10 or 20 euro's.
After a small wait the team came out to warm up...
Then as the wierd dutch people in the crowd tried to create an atmosphere by doing the conga along to some random tune that got very irritating after about 2 minutes, the flags emerged from the tunnel, shortly followed by the 2 teams.
As normal the national anthems was sung...though it was a strange feeling as we were surrounded by Dutch people so felt like we were singing alone!.
Just before kick-off the team had a pre-match huddle, quite why they do it, i dont think it makes a difference. Then kick off, in the early exchanges it was clearly evident that England were superior and the midfield of Reo-Coker, Richardson and the very impressive Huddlestone were going to boss the game.
I'll be honest, the game itself i can remember fragments of, mostly involving the dodgy german officials (if they were not German then i was informed wrong). Somehow the linesman on our side had given Nugent offside when he blatantly was onside, then within a split second of the whistle been blown Richardson had scored, but it did not count and the bias ref opted to show Richardson a yellow card. Moments later James Milner scored a perfect 6.0 with a triple pike and somersault, but despite the ref even mimicking that Milner had dived he failed to give him a yellow card. Nugent was then given a yellow for a full blooded challenge in which he won the ball...poxy european nancy's.
As the half wore on Huddlestones clever passing paved way for Reo-Coker to blast the ball over from about 12 yards which also proved to be Englands best chance. Through the first half Carson remained fairly un-troubled though he did have one save to make after some weak defending by Cahill and Onuoha. All over the pitch it appeared the english attackers had the beating of the Czechs, they just had to get stuck in and prove it.
Half time came after a fairly pleasing display, felt that we could go on and win it if we upped the tempo.
We kicked off the second half and went straight on the attack, within minutes Nugent was faced with his first real glimpse of the goal but he miss headed the ball, tho it fell in the direction of Richardson he could not react quick enough...
Shortly after a long ball up to the Czech striker resulted in a 50/50 tussle between the Czech and Gary Cahill, which the linesman adjudged to be a foul by Cahill. So the Czechs were given a free kick in a tricky position to deal with, there defenders trotted up and we expected a whipped in cross, but instead they opted to shoot and brought a tremendous save out of Scott Carson as he tipped the goal bound effort onto the post. That was them done trying to score now.
Dave Nugent again wasted a brilliant chance as he burst in to the penalty area and dragged his shot wide of the far post.
Then it came, the big moment, a hand ball inside the box, we'd been practising penalties in training and even had a mock shoot-out in the warm up game. The normal taker Kieron Richardson had been subbed so the duty fell to Leroy Lita who cockily stood on the spot and waited for the ball with some of the Czechs attempting to psyche him out, well, we all know what happened...he bloody missed...a shocking penalty.
Still, five minutes to be played, though when ever the Czechs got forward they ran it into the corners hoping for a point.
Full time, all in all a dis-appointing match to tell the truth, Huddlestone, Reo-Coker and Ashley Young impressed me but we'll need to be ALOT better on thursday night.
So then, out of the ground we met with Pete again and made our way to the bus stop to begin the journey home...and that is where part 3 will begin.
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