So You're Watching the World Cup From the Other Side of the World. We Know That Feeling.

The World Game. Every Four Years. Nothing Like It.

Not gonna lie, watching the 2026 World Cup from the other side of the world sucks balls. To be there would be something special, witnessing history. 

But yeah I know all the obstacles that get in the way.

The cost of the tickets, the flights to get there, the accommodation and the cash to make it happen.

Who the hell can afford to do anything? Especially when the price of a loose Roma tomato is $8.99 a Kilo at Coles and a loaf of sourdough is $11.50 at the bakery next door. What, huh?

Not to mention the price of things at the Games themselves. $7 US for a bottle of water, what the actual F....! If you had a large water bottle like a Dug on the go - that could be a game changer ( had to drop the name in there, come on let's be real). As someone who was lucky enough to get to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. I can speak from experience, that this is the greatest sporting event to attend if you get the chance.

My journey started long before we all got addicted to insulated water bottles.

Before anyone had heard of a Twitter or worried about showing everyone their lives online permanently. It was a special time that looking back feels looser, easier, more free wheeling and less about 'you' and more about 'us'. Watching the footage of the Scots taking over Boston, the Dutch marching in Orange, the Aussies singing our unofficial national anthem of 'We come from a land Down Under'. It brings a tear to your eye.

It's crazy what this event does for those of us that tune in properly to the World Game every four years.

The emotion that comes with watching the Aussies score a goal. The tension, the build up, the nerves for games that come around once every four years, it is unreal.  You need to stay hydrated to stay calm or you lose it. If you're anything like us, you'll be searching for your soccer water bottle ( sorry 'football water bottle') for a drink to stop the nerves.

It's a tension that is hard to explain. Is it the expectation? Is it the pride and not wanting to be embarrassed? Why does it join us and bind us like it does?

We felt it back in Germany 2006, the years don't change the memories or those emotions.

After the Aussies qualified for the first time in forever against Uruguay, we made the decision. To get tickets to the games for the World Cup.

Sure enough, it happened. Many months later, there we were, walking to a random car park. It sat behind a field on the edge of Kaiserslautern, a small city in Germany. We went there to pick up our World Cup tickets.

It was hot, crowded and surreal. A sea of yellow bodies, all making this pilgrimage to the promised land of a win in the World Cup. Which now lives on in history as one of those greatest achievements in Aussie sport. 

But you know what?

Even after all the glory, the manic celebrations, the tears of joy, the chanting, the pride the fist pumping all the way back from the ground, to the train station then back to Frankfurt - we were thirsty.

Like SO thirsty. It was hot as hell in Germany that time of year. There was nowhere to get a drink of water and when we did get back to Frankfurt, it was a beer fest. Let's face it, we all went nuts. 

Now 20 years later, we watch the games from the other side of the world with the masses.

But you don't get the vibe, the noise, the heat, the joy, the pure thrill of being there and a part of it all. We are so bloody jealous at My Mate Dug it makes us sick hahaha we can't lie.

But our chance will come again, we know it will. Four years from now, mark that down.

We will be there. But we will be doing things a bit differently from how we did it in Germany. And from the looks of things, what we see in the games today in Mexico, USA and Canada.

For starters, we would bring our Dug drink bottle!

Who knows, we could be the national soccer water bottle Australia deserves.

A cold water bottle that makes drinking from an insulated water bottle cool AND in our Aussie colours. We can only dream.

World Cup 2026 looks hot over there. The sun smashes half the stadium, and it cooks the spectators.

Imagine, if you didn't have to pay the $7 for a bottle of plastic water? Instead had ice cold on hand and got to put that $7 to something else more important like... beer lol

Don't judge us, watching the World Cup games can be stressful. Even watching Iran Vs New Zealand gave us the sweats. 

To celebrate our once every four year obsession with the World game, we're giving away a 2L Dug next week. All you need to do is pop your email in to enter.

It's free and who knows, you could be taking it with you to Portugal and Morocco in 2030 - wild to think. But you know what, some times you just have to make dreams happen.

LET'S GO AUSSIES!