It had been a pretty ordinary morning. When I woke up and looked out of my hotel room window, I saw rain. That scuppered my plan for some morning photography, so instead I got the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Oh dear. That was a mistake. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't good. And that's disappointing because this chain usually does a VERY good breakfast.

After breakfast I looked out and saw blue sky, so I went for a walk to the stadium to check out the area, do some shooting and make sure I knew my way there for the evening. About half an hour out, the clouds returned. About 40 minutes out, the showers did. Just before I reached the Matagarup Bridge, seen lit up here... it was drizzling heavily and constantly, and more was coming in on the weather radar. It was time to turn tail and make for the hotel again. (It was only about 30 minutes directly, but on the way out I had been stopping for photos.)

So this was as close as I got in the morning. However this evening the rain stayed away so I, and thousands of others, were ready to make our way across the Matagarup Bridge to the Optus Stadium. Both of them were bathed in the red, white and green colours of Italia.

The total crowd was 56,522 including me, though some of them were coming in from the other side of the stadium.