This was the beginning of the World Cup that seemed never to come – late autumn, in the middle of the league season, in scorching Qatar – a country with no football tradition, a country built with the blood of inhumanly treated immigrants from Bangladesh, India and African countries. However, the music played, the lights flickered spectacularly, and the fans counted together with the announcer: four, three, two … And before they reached the number one, the ball had already reached the Ecuador penalty area. But that’s no reason to focus only on the pitch now. At Sport.pl we will focus on football, we will try to reflect emotions, but we will not forget – contrary to Gianni Infantino’s requests – about the price that had to be paid for this World Cup.
Learn the names of the heroes: Hadii, Salim, Ali, Hasan, Mishra, Momo
Before we talk about the ceremony and the ball, let’s talk about people who are almost invisible, but who are the real heroes of this championship. Thanks to them, we are here for the fourth day, and we have not encountered any organizational problem: we get everywhere quickly, arrange everything quickly, most often intuitively. And if we start to look around for a moment and think about something, when one of them emerges from the ground – sometimes it’s a bodyguard, sometimes a steward, an organizer, a volunteer, a guard. Almost always from outside Qatar and absolutely always with a smile on my face. He’ll help before you ask. It will do more than you expected. I ask some of them where they are from and how long they have lived in Qatar. And what is life like, what did they do before the World Cup. These are short conversations, several-second exchanges. Most of them have been re-industry and now they are better, because they worked physically and built this World Cup. Their smiles are one of the few sincere elements of this championship. They can be overzealous, even servile. We get out of the taxi in front of the Poles’ training center, and they stand at attention from their white garden chairs. No one expects such honors, we feel uncomfortable. We ask them to sit, but they just smile and invite on. Get to know the names of those we met only on the opening day: Hadii, Salim, Ali, Hasan, Mishra and Momo.
Just before the start of the last part of the opening ceremony, this attention to detail caught the eye once again: the several-meter gold cup, which was to enter the center of the pitch, was once again thoroughly wiped on each side. A large group of workers came running with ladders, liquid, rags. And they were definitely better coordinated and faster than the Qatar team, which was about to appear on the pitch.
The fireworks went off earlier, the play of lights looked impressive, Morgan Freeman was great, and the whole ceremony was not very long and not very different from those of previous World Cups. The loudspeakers also played the hits of that championship, which further emphasized that the organizers failed to attract stars from the charts to Qatar. If Coldplay, Shakira, Black Eyed Peas, it’s only from the speakers. The Colombian who rocked the stands for “Waka waka” in South Africa was even invited, but she declined. Just like Dua Lipa and Alicia Keys.
Infantino speaks and some fans whistle
Gianni Infantino began his pre-match speech in Arabic, then greeted in Spanish, and the fans judged: applause mixed with whistles. Classically reminded that football unites and you have to enjoy it. Less than five minutes had passed, and both were screaming with joy – Enner Valencia scored for Ecuador, and after a while the VAR referees – including Tomasz Listkiewicz – told the main man that he was offside. It is a pity that the president of FIFA does not have such agency in all matters.
In the row behind me, side by side, were journalists from Qatar and Ecuador. And although it seemed that the emotional joy of the Latino – with shouted “Vamos!” and lots of swearing – you can’t beat it, after the intervention of the judges, the hosts shouted even louder and jumped even higher. But after the recognized goals of Valencia, they did not despair at all, they themselves began to record the more and more rejoicing Ecuadorian.
It also seems that VAR decisions at this championship will be much more transparent for fans in stadiums than before. Appropriate shots appear on large large screens, with additional graphics, which so far could only be seen on television. In addition, from time to time on the screens, the statistics of shots on target and possession of the ball were also displayed. And when there was less going on on the pitch, you could see the atmosphere in the fan zones. Good idea, step in the right direction.
Buses every six minutes, then gigantic traffic jams
FIFA takes care of journalists – every six minutes from the media center it launches buses going straight to the Al-Bayt stadium, where the first match of the World Cup took place. It is the northernmost object in Qatar, about 50 km from Doha. But on the way, you don’t pass anything, it’s a stretch not surrounded by anything: sand, stones, rubble. Several buildings of unknown purpose. Too small for hotels, too big for houses. The trip was supposed to take an hour. And it lasted that long, but when the stadium was already visible through the window, the hour of standing in a traffic jam began. And it was still a long way to the match – three hours later, the cars were only coming. It is the specificity of Qatar that every affluent resident does not move on foot and is not used to using public transport. But here, anyway, it wouldn’t help. The subway does not reach this stadium. We hear a story about a Pole who worked at the embassy for several years and when he went to the grocery store to do some shopping while working, only a few dozen meters away, colleagues asked him if his car broke down. It also seems that the Qataris, so far not very familiar with football standards, went to the match at the last minute.
– Can you open the door? – we ask, together with other journalists, a slightly embarrassed driver.
“Police everywhere…” he complains. He finally presses a button and we get off on a multi-lane road. We walk the last few hundred meters. It’s faster, but you can also see more: unfinished buildings, vacant lots, huge piles of rubble, which the organizers tried to cover with a metal fence. It didn’t work everywhere.
We don’t really pass fans. Most people hang around the VIP entrance. Further on, buses still bring sponsors and invited guests. We don’t see anyone with a Qatar or Ecuador scarf. It is impossible to compare it to the match atmosphere known from Europe. No one sings, no one blows the trumpet. It is quiet. The peace is disturbed only by the sounds of the ubiquitous police cars. After passing the gates with personal control, we enter the stadium. We walk along a perfectly trimmed lawn, pass a herd of camels lined up in a row. You can feel the atmosphere of the championship only in the stands, but it’s still just a theater. There was an hour left until the game.
A dozen or so minutes to the end, and the Qataris take their gifts and leave
When it started, it was summer again. The Ecuadorians occupied only five sectors, but at times they shouted over the stadium full of Qataris. They also had their ultras – right behind the goal, which Valencia scored from the penalty spot. They shouted, sang and bounced rhythmically throughout the match non-stop. Until the end, which raises doubts, because the remaining sectors, which were occupied by the Qatari dressed in traditional Arab costumes, called thobs, had already been emptied several minutes before the end of the match. They left in droves, one after the other, with gifts from the organizers in their hands. The journalists got them too: in the bag we found the mascot of the championship, a T-shirt, a plastic statuette and a suit pin.
We are sure of one thing – this time the elimination of the hosts will not hurt the tournament. Qatari fans are dignified gentlemen who are still learning football and are not very excited about it. More applause than any of their players got Morgan Freeman. We will look for football emotions, but also quality, in other matches. We are not surprised. Already 12 years ago, when Sepp Blatter took Katar out of the envelope, we assumed that it would look like this. Impressive on the outside, with carpets hanging from the ceiling of the stadium, but empty and summery inside.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
