International Football
Bye Bye Qatar, hosts to one-of-a-kind World Cup
Wadae Qatar 2022! Farewell Qatar 2022! After 32 days in the State of Qatar, it is time to leave. A World Cup initially embrolled in pre-tournament controversies have come and gone.
What a tournament! It was a one-of-a-kind World Cup! Even as FIFA also admitted, there may be none of that kind again.
It was the first time it was possible for media men to watch two matches in a day. It was the first time the World Cup had taken place in the Middle East and the Arab world.
It is also going the to be the last time the World Cup will have 32 teams. So as we say bye bye to Qatar 2022, so also it is adieu to the 32-team format which had been in place since France ‘98.
From the “United” – US, Canada and Mexico 2026, an akward 48-team format will debut.
Undoubtedly bye bye Qatar 2022 also means adieu to the duo of stars that have captured global attention in the past 15 years.
Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will undoubtedly be glarring absentees at the 2026 edition. Who then will pair Kylian Mbappe to set up anothe rivalry worth of getting global attention?
Goodbye also to La’eeb, Qatar 2022 World Cup’s mascot, an anthropomorphic ghutra (traditional Arabic headdress) that appears to be omnipresent in Qatar.
La’eeb, according to Fifa, can be credited with a part in Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal, and is “indescribable”. Everyone is invited to interpret what it looks like.
To some, the mascot represnts a floating white sheet. On the day after the final match, there was a dramatic change in human traffic.
Did the crowd just disappear overnight? In the previous days, the metro was a beehive of activities. Crowd, mostly football fans would mimick the event attendants in sky blue tracksuit who were directing and assisting passengers to navigate their ways through the metro lines.
Armed with hand-held public address system, the event managers would blare “Metro this way!”, pointing to a particular direction. Soon, like a theatre, the crowd would also mimic them.
The scenes at the beautifully constructed 37-stop metro network feature also features convenience stores, artisanal cafes and even a bubble tea joints were very thrilling.
But on Monday, the metro looked deserted, making one to feel lonely. No more “Metro, this way”.
Even the ever bubbling Media Centre was deserted. The security personnel that screened every entrant had suddenly disappeared. The facilities had been dismantled. The ever bubbling massive structure which is the Qatar National Convention Centre have suddenly become a ghost arena.
No televison sets, no internets no printer and no snacks and drinks. The personnels have disappeared.
Yet the previous day, the naratives were different. The beautiful city of Lusail bubbled all through Sunday before and after the final match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
No doubt, the State of Qatar has exceeded the wildest imaginations.
Those who doubted the ability of the Gulf state to host a competition of that magnitude were roundly proved wrong.
The state of facilities were excellent. Yet, most of the stadiums are scheduled to be dismantled or scaled down.
The Stadium 974, ingenously built with maritime containers were already being dismantled at the close of the Round of 16.
Yet, that stadium would have been a dream facility in most parts of the world.
On Sunday, Lusail was figuratively under siege by army of fans. Most of course are from Argentina, the country with most travelling fans. It would have been a monumental disaster had fate failed them.
At the Lusail metro station, the disembarking thousand of pasengers crammed the the U-shaped overhead bridge linking the two terminal buildings to the Lusail Stadium.
Yet the metro runs every three minutes making the station heavily congested ahead of the titanic Argentina-France final match.
The surging crowd at the station formed densely column of moving objects, making movement of a 50 metre passage to take nearly 20 minutes to transverse.
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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