To see Paul's photos from Doha...

At half time of the Asian Cup semi-final against Uzbekistan, the Socceroos were 2-0 to the good. As most of us remember, that score line has particular historical significance for Australian football supporters. I was still not comfortable.

Embracing after Carl Valeri and Robbie Kruse opened their international goal scoring accounts, my mate Nelzy and I decided to make the mad dash to Doha for the Asian Cup final.

We looked at flight schedules and settled on Qatar Airways. Leaving Melbourne at 11.30pm on Friday, we would arrive in Doha at 6am local time on Saturday. Our flight out of Doha would leave at 12.45am after the match, leaving us a leisurely 19 hours in the Qatari capital.

After spending Friday at work, the next mission was to spend 14 hours on a plane bound for Doha. The next few hours involved the long haul travelling standards: movies, bad food, a couple of drinks and a sleeping pill.

Flying in to Doha, it was obvious that along with oil, there is one thing Qatar has plenty of. Sand. A dry and arid city, Doha is certainly not blessed with an abundance of tourist attractions. But round-the-clock construction work means there will be plenty of buildings by the time 2022 comes around.

Our day commenced with a taxi ride to the Grand Hyatt Hotel to pick up some match tickets. After meeting up with some fellow Green and Gold Army members, some of whom had also travelled from Australia, it was time to check out Doha’s largest shopping centre to pick up more tickets. The shopping centre had an ice skating rink, so we felt it would be remiss not to at least try a couple of laps.

Pre-match was at the famed Doha Rugby Club, a centralised meeting point for Doha’s expat community. A couple of Fosters’ and VB were consumed over stories of the sheer stupidity of spending 27 hours travelling to Doha.

The match was heartbreaking. Despite dominating the encounter, the Socceroos could not take their chances and fell to a sucker Japanese punch in the second half of extra time.

The loss aside, I could not have been prouder of the team. We played with a style and confidence I did not believe possible just six months ago. The future is certainly bright with Holger at the helm. With players such as Kilkenny, Kruse, Burns, and McKay showing they have a real future at the international level, Australian football fans have much to look forward to in the coming years.

Qatar clearly has a lot of work to do if they are going to run a world-class event in 2022. Being kept in the stadium for almost an hour post match because of a fireworks display was certainly frustrating. And it was shocking to hear of Australian fans with valid tickets who could not gain entry to the stadium. But the positive for Qatar is they have 11 years up their sleeve in which to learn from countries like Australia and the USA how to run major events.

Leaving straight after the game, I returned to Melbourne with enough time for a few hours sleep before work on Monday morning.

Most people call me crazy, stupid, possibly even mad. But would I do it again?

Absolutely. I am in love.

To see Paul's photos from Doha...