Kazakhstan 0 - England 4

It came round so quickly - after seeming so far away when I arrived in February.

The England team arrived in Almaty on Wednesday night in order to acclimatise to the five-hour time difference. Some local school children got to meet them at one of their training sessions. I got to meet them, when they left - straight after their victorious match! Our 2000KZT tickets got us a fine view of the match from the Kazakh end of the stadium - the game wasn't all that great to be honest, but the atmosphere was pretty darn cool! The roof came off (the bit that had a roof) when Becks came on, by which point the game was won!

Anyway - I made my exit just before the final whistle and hot-footed it to the airport with a couple of colleagues in order to escort the team and their entourage through the formalities. They all looked mighty fine in their suits as they queued up to get their passports stamped, but some were more willing than others to sign footballs and posters and pose for camera-phone shots with various personnel in their uniforms. This was the only shot I took - opting instead to keep my camera in my bag and focus on my job - which was effectively just looking at them!!! I did escort Emille Heskey to the loo(!) and swooned at Becks when he went past. He wasn't as tall as I thought though. John Terry and Frank Lampard didn't fail to impress either - they looked good in the flesh. Got Frankie boy to sign my ticket. Mr Gerrard obliged too. And off they went!

Saw a charter flight of Brits off too - all went off without a hitch and was home in bed by 2.30am. Shattered!