On Monday afternoon it was the big one... Wales vs France in a six-a-side match played in the stifling Qatari heat in Ar-Rayyan.
The game finished 2-1 to the Welsh after an interruption from national broadcaster France News 24 who wanted to grab an interview with supporters that had ventured out to the Middle East to be a part of the controversial festival of football over the next month.
Bristol City supporter Ashton Adams is one of those fortunate enough to watch his country in the biggest and most prestigious tournament of them all. Although, despite his match-winning performance against Les Bleus, he didn't cover himself in glory when interviewed live on French TV.
Perhaps it was the two hours of sleep the night before but Adams somehow systematically switched from his Welsh accent to a French one without realising what he was doing.
"As we were playing a camera crew came up halfway through and stopped our game and started speaking to these guys in French," he told Bristol Live. "Then we found out they were France News 24 and wanted to video a bit of the game. We ended up on French TV.
"I did an interview on French TV and they told me I was being broadcast live. I thought well if it's live rather than being cut I'll give an honest opinion and I ended up making my point but as we were doing that, I didn't notice I slipped into an outrageous French accent - full on Joey Barton style (mimicking his time as Marseille manager). All my mates were wetting themselves.
"At that point, I was thinking I have to keep going now or they thought I was being rude taking the mick out of their accent."
It's moments as such that epitomise the many positive aspects surrounding the World Cup. 32 nations coming together, supporters from all different ethnic backgrounds and cultures all there for one thing.
Luckily for me, Adams had snapped out of his French accent from his room in Dubai - yes, Dubai - when we spoke. He was recovering from a relentless day and evening watching Wales salvage a 1-1 draw with the USA.
For Adams, who had travelled to the Middle East with his mates, he felt uneasy about staying in the Qatari state given their human rights record.
"We're flying in and out of Qatar for the games we are going to. Purely because me and my mates just said we don't really agree with the human rights in Qatar itself so instead of having to deal with everything else we decided just to go in and out.
"It would be a bit cheaper as well and it's worked out alright. It feels just as much like a World Cup here as it does over there. We've got loads of Argentineans, Brazilians and Mexicans all staying in our hotel. It's just turned into an absolute party. There are 150 Welsh fans in this hotel."
Adams' journey has taken him via Serbia, where he sipped 70p pints, to Dubai and Qatar. Wednesday will be just his second full day in Qatar when he attends Spain vs Costa Rica but the 27-year-old has mixed feelings about the vibe of the country.
He added: "We didn't go just to a pub, we actually went out and about. It's a gorgeous city on the surface with lovely views but at the same time, at the end of the day, you can't take everything on the surface.
"The attitude in the entire city when we were going around it's almost like people go about their day to day life with an acute positive manner rather than a real one. All because of the fact the monarchy essentially wants it to be positive." Eerily our line cut off at this point which had us joking there was a third person listening to the conversation.
After a brief minute or two, he continued: "And it's just one of those places where everyone is friendly on the surface but you know it's a bit more deep-rooted. Qatar is a very private place, for them to have the whole world on their doorstep is a whole different ball game.
"They're opening their doors to the eyes of the world for essentially the first time. It's a private kingdom is the way I'd describe it. Everything has to look great."
And the Wales game?
"It was one of the most frustrating first halves of football I have watched," he said. "Put it this way, I got a text which was the perfect analogy. It simply said: 'Excuse my language but f*** me this is like watching City away from home.'
"I actually sat there and like yea, this was like Middlesbrough away. Backs to the wall right from the off that was the entire first half."
A spine-tingling Welsh national anthem and Gareth Bale's second-half equaliser ensured the points were shared in their group opener but their experience was slightly tarnished by the knowledge that former Wales captain Laura McAllister, an ambassador for the FAW, was forced to remove her rainbow bucket hat upon entry to the stadium.
"She's part of the LGBT community and they told her you have to take off your bucket hat or you're not coming in. They were confiscating them and binning them.
"They're telling everyone it's a tournament for the world but they haven't misbehaved in any aspect, they're just simply showing their true representation that football's for everyone.
"I get the whole argument on the other side of things that it's their culture and respect that. At the same time, I feel they have to show some middle ground. If you're going to have a tournament for the whole world, then the whole world's beliefs should be shown.
"Either way, I managed to sneak one in and wear one."
Another City fan out in Qatar is Aaron Brewer who is living the dream. One of his many highlights so far was tracking down Antoine Semenyo with his dad and posing for a picture with a Bristol City flag.
Explaining the meeting, he told Bristol Live: "We managed to go past the Ghana team hotel the day before and found out when they were arriving.
"We managed to get into the hotel lobby with the City flag and he noticed it straight away. He came over to my dad and me and said how much he appreciated seeing City fans over here. He was really excited and couldn’t wait to get started.
"I am loving every minute of it, we were a bit dubious after media reports about the country whether we would be able to enjoy the tournament but we can not fault our experience so far, the people are so friendly and welcoming we can't praise them enough for their hospitality.
"Not one of us have seen much change if I am honest. It just feels like being on holiday in any other country."
One of the many controversies surrounding the World Cup remains the infrastructure, particularly the supporter 'hotels' that are costing £180 per room. They are practically tents with twin beds and little else but Brewer hasn't had that problem - even though they booked it just two months ago.
He said: "Our accommodation is amazing, we are in an apartment. It's so big and quite welcoming, to be honest. We have been quite lucky considering we only booked 2 months ago. I haven’t seen any of the supporter ‘hotel’ rooms yet."
And he's making sure he's experiencing the nightlife that even led to a 4 in the morning kickabout with a number of Cameroon supporters.
"The atmosphere here has been great. We have been in pubs singing England songs, been in a livelier pub with Argentina fans which was open till 3 am and were able to drink and have a good laugh with them.
"They're are so many Cameroon fans in our apartment blocks who love to sing and dance all day long, we managed to have a kick about with them in the car park last night at 4 am. It's so relaxed.
"Argentina, USA, Germany, Australia, Cameroon, Japan and many more fans are staying in the apartment blocks and everyone's just getting on with each other."
Unsurprisingly, there's little desire to rush back to make the trip to Rotherham when City return to league action on December 10 - the same day England could potentially play in the quarter-finals.
He added: "We are booked till December 12 but we are allowed to extend our stay in the apartment and change the flights which we most likely will as we love it over here. It's been amazing since we arrived and would love to see England go all the way and bring it home!"
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