World Cup 2022: Wales-Qatar electric car bid falls short

France, Germany and Italy proved relatively easy as one Welsh team progressed well on its journey to the Qatar World Cup.

Serbia and North Macedonia were more challenging, but the team made it to the final leg in Saudi Arabia.

The aim had been to get through 18 countries to Qatar in an electric car - but after successfully driving through 17, the dream ended at the border of the tournament host's neighbour.

But there can be glorious defeat.

Instead of driving into Doha ahead of Wales' first game against the USA on Monday, they flew in with a trophy - the car's wheel trim to hand to the players, as well as hundreds of messages of support from back home.

"The most emotional, toughest part was being at the Saudi border [with Jordan]," said former Cardiff City player Scott Young.

"We got to passport control, got them stamped, got back into the car, drove to the next station and realised it wasn't going to happen. We begun moving back and were stuck in no man's land between two countries for eight hours."

They had feared a lack of electric car charging points in countries such as North Macedonia and Serbia would be sticking points - but in the end it was the law in Saudi Arabia that was their undoing, with right-hand drive cars not allowed in.

"We waited two or three days, trying to find the solution or the correct permission," said Nick Smith.

"But none exist. Electric cars are apparently something they are looking to spend a lot of money on, that wasn't the problem. Someone said the problem with right hand drive cars is people bringing them in and undercutting the [local] market."

Despite their journey ending in Jordan, the group were some of the first Wales fans to arrive in Doha - but instead of realising their dream by arriving in an electric car, named Morris, they flew in on Thursday.

They didn't quite complete the 5,000-mile (8,000km) journey by car, but hope that at least being in Qatar with about 2,500 other spectators will inspire the players.

The national squad had been engaged from the start, although Gareth Bale and the players were not confident of seeing them in the Middle East when the group set off from their Vale of Glamorgan training base on 28 November.

Fellow fans Huw Talfryn Walters and Walter Pennell joined Mr Smith and Mr Young, with Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy relatively easily passed.

Even so, the stars were still not convinced they would be successful, including two former internationals who joined them between Switzerland and Austria.

As they left the group, Danny Gabbidon asked if he thought they would see them in Qatar, to which Joe Ledley joked: "No chance."

Things did get tougher, with a 14-hour drive from Belgrade to Greece.

"The challenges finding chargers through Serbia and North Macedonia were massive - in the end, we did find them, but arrived after midnight with five hours sleep," Mr Pennell said.

If the Welsh weather finally caught up with them in Athens, inspiration arrived in the form of Chris Coleman, the man who led Wales to the semi finals of Euro 2016.

He currently manages Atromitos in Greece, and they watched the side in action before saying goodbye to Morris for what they hoped would be the first and only time on the journey.

It was shipped to Israel, with the group flying in to Tel Aviv, and they described hearing ships being unloaded in the port of Haifa from their hotel rooms and keeping their "fingers crossed that the gods of customs paper work are on our side and we'll soon be on our way".

Luckily, the car arrived and the team spent time taking in the sights of Petra in Jordan before heading towards Saudi Arabia.

But after 18 days across 17 countries and 3,800 miles, they suddenly hit a brick wall and were left with two options.

They could drive back to Israel and get a ferry around the middle east to Qatar - but that is a two-week journey which would have meant missing Wales' first match.

"It would also have meant going through Syria, Iraq and Iran, and we didn't really want to do that," added Mr Smith.

After three days in Jordan, they decided to fly in to Doha, with it unclear what the future holds for Morris.

"We left him in a car show room in Jordan. We are not sure yet if we are going to ship him back or drive him," Mr Smith said.

It was an epic journey that brought support from thousands of well-wishers back home, with some legends of Welsh football involved along the way.

One of these was Peter Nicholas, who won 73 caps for Wales and described the border issues as having "one foot in the sea and having to go back again".

He joined them in Amman, Jordan, and met the Wales team with the group on Friday, adding: "They were all so interested about the trip and asked great questions. We just told them to go and do Wales proud and I'm sure they will."

While Morris didn't quite make it to Qatar, his crew got there to cheer on Wales and there is still a lot of glory in falling at the final hurdle.

If the national side's journey ends with defeat in the World Cup final, few will complain.