KICK-OFF is not for 10 months but these Merseyside lads have already set off on the 10,000 mile journey to the World Cup. The football fans are determined not to fly to Japan and are travelling via land and sea. Their trek, partly by bicycle, will take them through Scandinavia, Russia and China. They have also launched a website appropriately named after Arsenal striker and Dutch international Dennis Bergkamp, who is terrified of flying.
Tom Roberts, 23 from Greasby, will travel with fellow Everton supporter, Gary Flinn, 24, from Maghull, and Liverpool fan Martin Breen, 25, from Birkenhead. Tom said: "We all wanted to go travelling and were initially going to go to Australia but that would have been impossible to do without flying. "We then decided to go to the World Cup and thought this would be a good opportunity for us to achieve our ambition and reach our distination without taking the plane. "We all left our jobs on Friday and are just hoping we have allowed sufficient time to enable us to make the World Cup".
Martin a web-site designer, has designed their site which will be updated by the lads as they travel. There will even be the opportunity for football fans to vote on the website for the team which they believe will win. Tom added: "The website will keep people updated on where we are and will include photographs of us on our travels. "It also has a message board and we have already been contacted by people in China and Holland.
"We thought it was appropiate to name the site after Dennis Bergkamp who is terrified of flying."