Football: In France Without A Ticket

Nicholas Harling's daily quest to get into a World Cup match: Day Three

After the hair-raising 152-mile dash from Bordeaux the night before to take in the last hour of Austria v Cameroon in Toulouse, the journey to Montpellier was fractionally more sedate. There we found, as expected, that Bulgaria v Paraguay was the easiest and least expensive game so far to penetrate. The touts' prices dropped drastically as kick-off approached, and a friend purchased a 250 franc ticket for just 200fr, then I acquired a 145fr ticket for 150fr. No problem...