Interest in the matches of the soccer World Cup is unbroken in Doha. So far, all games are more than just sold out. The game between the Netherlands and Senegal is no different. But there is no sign of that in the stands. The brazen lie raises new questions.
Behind the Al Ahli Stadium, the training ground of Germany’s group opponents Costa Rica, lies the district of Nuajia. Away from the great Ring Roads, where traffic never stops, silence reigns here, broken only by the muezzin’s calls. Small alleys, white and sand-colored houses behind high walls and with heavy cars in the carports. Sometimes a car rushes by, sometimes a cat roams the area. There are cats everywhere. A handyman attaches his ladder to his pickup truck. Others enter houses, otherwise there is no one on the street.
This is where the Qataris celebrate their own World Cup. Some houses are decorated with the flags of all participating countries, others are not. They had a hard time there. Gigantic national flags have been laid over the houses, every imaginable place is decorated with flags, and portraits of the ruling family can be seen on the walls of the houses.
The images of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and his father Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani are added to some of the buildings by Moza bint Nasser. She is the second wife of Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the emirate’s female figurehead. The 63-year-old is driving the transformation to a knowledge society in Qatar.
For a time when not only gas should increase the country’s immeasurable wealth and form a protective shield against the other powers of the Gulf region through international visibility. Her daughter Al-Mayasa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani continues her role after the old emir’s abdication in 2013. She is the head of the national museum authority with budgets in the billions. Both are western and open abroad and traditional in Qatar, only shifting the image of women by millimeters.
Gas, education, art, sport – these are the cornerstones of Qatar. increase fame and fortune. Become irreplaceable in the world. That’s why the emirate organized the World Cup, with a lot of money and with big doubts. Only a few days into the tournament, however, the biggest event in the sports world threatens to end in a huge disaster. The first week is not about sport. Everything is overshadowed by the accompanying circumstances. About Iran’s silent protest, about the dead on the stadium construction sites, about FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s ultimate denial of reality, about the cowardice of the European associations including the DFB, whose will to protest is broken by threats of yellow cards.
There is no dark shadow hanging over this tournament, the World Cup is the dark shadow on football that has receded into the background. The first real game of the World Cup will take place on Monday in the neighboring district of Al Thumana. Hours before kick-off, about 100 migrant workers are standing in a row in the country’s hot sun. A number on their badges is slowly being scanned and they are being called to work. A picture that can be seen everywhere. People are transported somewhere, lined up, and then sent off without much information about what is to come.
You won’t have seen much of the game between Senegal and the Netherlands. A highly attractive pairing in terms of football. Louis van Gaal with his probably last big performance. The 71-year-old wants to be world champion. He’s put together a good team. Who could use a good striker up front. The Dutch are no different than their big neighbor Germany.
It’s still enough against Senegal, who have to do without superstar Sadio Mané. Two late goals put Elftal at the top of Group A together with Ecuador. The outstanding Cody Gakpo and former Bremen player Davy Klaasen were responsible for the goals. The lions of Teranga, on the other hand, repeatedly fail because of the debutant in the Elftal goal, Andries Noppert, who, at the age of 28, surprisingly gets his first game at the World Cup opener from Bond coach van Gaal.
It’s a tough game with a lot of mistakes from both sides. Both teams want to achieve something in this tournament and little can be said about it yet. But Van Gaal can be trusted to see Elftal reach at least the semi-finals for the sixth time after 1974, 1978, 1998, 2010 and 2014. It’s a team without big stars, one that was shaped by the Bonds coach and has now gone 16 games unbeaten. “It was a deserved win,” said van Gaal after the game: “But to be honest, it wasn’t a good game from our side.”
However, the start of the Dutch team also leaves big question marks for other reasons. The boxes in the Al Thumana stadium are sparsely or not at all occupied, the ranks fill up slowly, numerous seats remain empty. Something like mood does not want to arise. The constant drumming of a Senegalese fan group remains unanswered even by the Elftal fans. They are happy about the victory and wonder with the rest about the specified number of viewers. A total of 41,721 are said to have come to the arena in southern Doha. On the official website of the World Cup, the capacity is given as 40,000. Not an isolated case. All games are more than sold out so far.
It’s not even a misrepresentation anymore, just a deeply ridiculous attempt to cover up the lack of interest in some games. Write numbers on them that everyone will immediately identify as lies. If that’s how viewership numbers are handled, why should you believe other, far more important numbers? Qatar has repeatedly disputed the number of deaths related to the World Cup.
That shouldn’t matter to those who come out of the entrance of the VVIPs, the Very Very Important Persons, after the final whistle. A police formation is set up for them around the stadium, the spectators are herded to the exits, and the VVIIPs are escorted out on litters. It’s already dark in the Nuajia district. The flags of the other participating countries are still hanging on some of the sandstone-colored houses, and traffic rushes past them on the Ring Roads. And there are portraits of the Al Thanis everywhere. There will be no rain tomorrow either.
