The Birdton

Lengthy post alert: I cannot believe what happened yesterday. I bought tickets for the Champions League final months ago, in the hopes that OL would make the final and bring Alex to my home town of Cardiff! As a precursor to this story, my wife and I live in Cardiff but have journeyed all over North America watching USWNT and NWSL matches, including the WWC final in Vancouver. We are avid travelers and love to incorporate soccer matches into our trips abroad! So you can imagine my surprise when I come out of my local grocery store, having done some food shopping after a normal day in work, to see the huge OL team bus pulling into the stadium across the road! My wife had laughed at me that morning for putting my Alex jersey in the car ("you never know, we might bump into her in town at lunch time!!") There were literally no other fans around - we just wandered over to the barrier outside the player entrance and waited a few minutes before the team started coming out. We called out to Alex when we spotted her and as she came right over to chat with us - it was so surreal! Having been to USWNT matches I know how crazy it can be after games with screaming fans pushing and shoving, trying to get the players' attention. But here we were in the evening sun, outside Asda of all places, chatting with one of our favourite players of all time. Alex is a class act and I can't wait to see her and OL take on PSG tonight! #AllezOL!

Just got tickets for both friendlies against Russia in Texas in April. So excited for a road trip! It prompted me to take a look at some of the videos I took at the last game I went to in Kansas City. What an awesome night. Who knew how difficult it would be to frame a jersey?! Got there in the end. Can’t wait to hang these in my new house!