Right before every world cup you get Media reports on how terrible things will be.. lol. This will be my 6th world cup. I live in LA and my worst experience was US94. It's the only time where the locals couldn't care less (it'll probably be the same for 2026). But all other experiences have been amazing! Countries go out of their way to make you feel at home. My travel experiences in Arab countries is they pride themselves in hospitality! Arab/Middle East culture in incredibly hospitable; it's cultural. I'm not concerned about the liquor issue; they'll figure out the rules for 30 plus days. They will not partake in the alcohol; ;but will allow their guests to enjoy themselves. Also; a major WC sponsor is Budweiser... just sayin! I'm going to predict the theme for this world cup will be... HOSPITALITY.
For those that were in South Africa and Brazil, around what times were the USSF night-before event pre-game event. Thanks
Off the top of my head, in Brazil they started around 7pm and ran late (past midnight). I was at the ones in Natal, Recife, and Salvador.
You piqued my interest, so I went back and looked through my old emails. Natal: 12pm-5pm (7pm kickoff) Manaus: 12pm-4pm (6pm kickoff) Recife: n/a (1pm kickoff) Salvador: 11am-3pm (5pm kickoff) The night-before events were all scheduled for 6pm to midnight. In Brazil, we didn’t go to any of the matchday parties, since they were in awkward locations, not necessarily close to the stadiums. And getting to the stadiums in Brazil was not a simple or quick task. AO organized their own pregame events close to the stadiums, but we also didn’t make it to any of those. The Natal one with the march to the stadium looked epic. The night-before events were all officially “combined” US Soccer/ American Outlaws events. I heard the Manaus one was a bit awkward, mixing US Soccer executives/VIPs and players’ families together with regular fans at an upscale event venue. To be honest, I’d be surprised if US Soccer hosts public events in Qatar for a number of reasons, including the difficulty of finding appropriate venues in Doha.
I attended the Night Before event in Manus as regular fan. Blame it on how many Brahma's I consumed or not being a VIP, but I didn't find it awkward (I just went back and looked, and yes, I did take a picture with Sunil Gulati, and my eyes are completely glazed over. I am sure he was thrilled.) Also, to call the event space in Manus upscale is being, well nice. It was pretty far away from the city center and I didn't find the venue to be any nicer than the space for the Night Before party in Recife when Will Ferrell showed up.
The Natal NBP and the pre-match still stand as the best of each I've ever attended. I'm hoping for something in Qatar but I have no idea. It may be dry events as it could be really difficult to get alcohol to sell. I don't know of the feasibility of USSF renting out an entire bar in one of the hotels. I would imagine they have people looking into it. I think it'll be much more difficult for AO to set something up.
Not sure about night before events in Qatar, but I can’t see a pregame being anything except the fan zones at the stadiums (especially for drinking). These stadiums don’t seem to have much around them. Vast tracts of not pedestrian-friendly residential areas, highways, desert, and shopping malls.
Yep. Wife’s all about the sticker trading. She uses the stickermanager site. Our book is almost full.
We filled our Russia 2018 book using stickermanager.com too. It’s a great site. And kind of fun getting the envelopes in the mail. I still flip through the Russia book sometimes.
Nice! I'm doing 2 sets. I have just one left for the first set, the elusive FWC6. 2nd set I need just 11 more. I've been using laststicker.com where I've built up a good reputation with positive feedback, but I'll give stickermanager a try. I have loads of dupes too if anyone wants to trade.
I just loaded my lists to stickermanager. a PITA compared to laststicker where you can upload them all at once, but I'm done. I'm PabloSanDiego on there too if anyone wants to trade!
We'll probably do a second book as well. The colored border thing is annoying. Doing all whites for the main book, and may do a second book with the color borders.
yeah to me the colored border parallels are a complete waste! Usually when you open sportscards you're thrilled when you get a rare parallel but with these stickers I hate them. I just put them aside and now have a huge stack of 225 blues, plus 1 green, 2 purples, and 16 reds. There's no way I'm going to try and build a blue set, it would be a total waste of money and time. But I don't like how they look in the book really. Probably what I'll do is use all whites in my soft cover and I guess put the colored ones in the hard cover. I keep the hard cover pristine but will bring the soft cover with me to Qatar where I use it as sort of a diary, writing in all the scores and keeping notes on where I watch each game and who I watched it with and any other notes. I did this in WC14 and WC18 and they are now really nice personal mementos for me.
Anyone else just receive an email for USSF Soccer Insiders for a 10%/15% discount code on Qatar Airways? While I find this a nice gesture, I find it incredibly piss poor planning on their part. We are two months out; I'd say 90 to 95% of us have our travel plans already sorted,and then they reach out and say: "hey, we can get you a discount on a flight!" Just a tad late USSF. Might want to have shared this possibility or the discount news, you know during the planning stages for most of us!? Nice gesture, incredibly late notice. But for some that are still planning this is a nice discount, I suppose.
well i dont think those discounts were on the table during the planning part when they were expecting sold out stadiums and 1 to 1.5 million visitors, now as the number of people going to Qatar is clearly falling short, they are opening up all the boxes and offering discounts etc..
Turns out, by pure chance, that my apartment is going to be around the corner from the resort the US delegation will be staying at. Made me think about whether any collection of folks would want to use some of our spare time in Doha figuring out and displaying some sort of TIFO along the one road in and out of their resort. Something like "Where ever you go we will follow" or any other some such message that gives them inspiration and a small reminder of support. There is a little beach right next to the bridge/road (if I am following the map right). Makes me think of the Argentinian encampment on the beach at Rio replete with huge sand castle images of Maradona, Messi and Jesus Christ and the "Pope" mobile that was driving around Rio dispensing holy water.
Nice! I've still got a handful of US players to fill out. Just bought some more sticker packs to fill it in....