2022 FIFA World Cup: A bitter sweet affair
As popular as this tournament is, its historical track record is tainted. Here I look at how this evolved, how it made me feel and how this world cup is going to pan out.
“Fifa has lost the trust of the people. We cannot allow the architects and controllers of world football to get away with dragging the beautiful game through the grime of corruption and bribery.” Sol Campbell
Yes, the football world cup is upon us. Without paying attention to all the outrage of why this tournament shouldn’t be taking place where it is, at the time it is, my inner monologue is over the moon. Taking the obvious human rights violations into account and certain political leanings of the host country, I am a little more apprehensive. In regards to the human rights abuses, it seems to be a case of he said, she said . Various human rights organisations have floated the number 6,500, regarding foreign workers who died working on the stadiums these last years, the Qatari diplomatic response was that this number is grossly exaggerated and that the real number is around 6 people. Who to believe, right?
Homophobic dictators and Fifa, nothing new under the sun
If we look at previous tournaments, the outrage seems to be comparatively disproportional this time round. Mussolini’s Italy hosted the 1934 world cup, following this tradition of ignoring local politics, the tournament was held in 1978 in an Argentina that had just suffered a military coup two years prior, a coup that had overthrown a democratically elected government. And then of course, 4 years ago it was Russia, two years after it had annexed Crimea and 4 years before it invaded Ukraine.
So there is a history of this tournament not caring about the host country’s political leanings. Both Russia and Qatar have suffocating anti-LGBTQI laws, and for this reason alone, the host country should never have been elected to run the world cup. Football is all about inclusion, anyone and everyone can play the game, so how can we be tolerating an event held in a country that does not view every human as equal?
My first memories of watching the FIFA world cup were in 1982, when the event was hosted in Spain. Incidentally they were awarded the tournament a year after dictator Franco had died, which was an event that resurrected the country. I was 7 years old, a year into my 4 decade long football career, and living in Berlin; we had a TV the size of an attaché briefcase. It was here in our living room, sitting with my dad, watching every game live, that I first ever experienced heart break. Proper eyes sobbing, snot running down the nose heart break.
Germany made into the finals that year against Italy and lost, after clearly being the better team. I remember seeing how upset every adult around me was, and I just mimicked the sadness. 8 years later, after having witnessed the fall of the Berlin wall and the emotional outbreak of German reunification, I was able to experience the polar opposite of heart break. LOVE! The 1990 Italian world cup changed my life forever. Germany, after having played an amazing world cup, managed to beat Argentina in the finals in Milan. After having been spat on by a particularly devious Dutch side in the semi-finals Germany went on to lift the trophy. It was a memory that has stayed with me forever.
An immense catalyst for inspiring people: Check your prejudice
“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.” - James Baldwin
I remember watching the wall come down in 1989 with my grandmother, Mima. Seeing the tears of joy in her eyes, having lived most of her life just a stone’s throw from the wall that had separated her from friends and family members, she was ecstatic seeing the wall physically crumbling in front of her own eyes. A year later when a reunited Germany managed to win the most illustrious of sports tournaments was an incredibly cathartic and emotional unifying experience for the whole country.
Fast forward 14 years and Germany beats host country Brazil 7:1 in the semi-finals. In BRAZIL!! I felt that after the 5:0, my soul left my body and I was walking on air.
Then seeing Mario Goetze put that ball past the Argentinian keeper in the dying minutes of extra time was bliss, it was a moment that symbolised the beauty of the game. How passion and team work could create something so wondrous, was inspiring, not only for Germans but for lovers of the game worldwide.
The world cup finals is the only event on Earth, sporting or otherwise that manages to draw nearly two billion people worldwide in front of television screens. In many ways it brings the whole planet together whilst pitting individual nations against each other in a contest of skill, endurance and tactical brilliance. To win a tournament like this, you not only need extremely talented players but you also need something that is harder to train or even identify within a team objectively. The Germans call this “TEAMGEIST” – or the spirit of a team. Something magical happens when a team just clicks and works for each other. Football is such an amazing sport not because of the individual talents of players, but the ability of a team of 11 individuals coming together and working for each other. As opposed to many other sports, you cannot rely on one or two individuals carrying the team, with a pitch the size of a football pitch, it is nearly impossible to gain any advantage out of having a Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar, you need a whole team.
This is why football is one of the greatest teachers we know as humans. I know it sucks that the tournament is being held in a country with draconian human rights laws but again, cultures across this planet are different and need to be respected, even if they don’t espouse the values of other cultures. As such I find a lot of the outrage on the Internet, the calls for boycotts and the like, to be inspired by racism and a deep rooted fear of Islam. If you have a visceral response to this world cup, try to check the motivations for this, and if your supposed outrage at the laws against homosexuality in Qatar are actually inspired by a subliminal islamophobic perception in your mind. Just pointing this out. In light of the history of this tournament and its various host countries, I believe the amplified anti-Qatar message out there is a little over the top. Don’t get me wrong I am in no way condoning the situation, far from it, just highlighting its historical place. The same way that I believe people are being motivated by an internal racist monologue that broadstrokes the downsides of Islam unfairly onto a fairly new country, I also believe that Qatar is hosting this tournament to promote their country to the world, a process known as “sports washing.” I don’t doubt this at all.
But at the same time, let’s face it, the world is in such a messed up place right now, that we need something positive for us collectively. So lets focus on the real issue at hand, playing the beautiful game.
Not another prediction
As such, here are my predictions:
Remember that the teams only have had less than a week to prepare, compare this to tournaments in the past where teams had at least 6 weeks after their leagues ended in the summer, to get a team working together. Precisely because this world cup is happening mid-season during December, will produce some outliers. In fact, I believe that an outlier team may even win this.
Denmark will do really well and make it to the semi-finals at least. Serbia and Croatia are two other teams I wouldn’t rule out making it to the final four.
But in terms of who will win this tournament and what players will be the most stand out during the tournament, we have to turn to Bavaria and the team FC Bayern Munich. Of all the European leagues, Bayern has the most players playing in this world cup, by far. 17 of their first team are members of national teams playing in Qatar. And 7 of these are in the Germany squad! In fact, the entire front five of Germany have been playing together at Bayern for the last couple of seasons. As such they know each other well and have been dominating both the Bundesliga and the Champions league for the last couple of months.
The two stand out players this year both play in Germany. England’s Jude Bellingham at Dortmund and Jamal Musiala at Bayern. Both are 19 years old and both dominate in their positions. In fact, I can’t wait to see them perform.
Obviously, my number one team is Germany but seeing my mum is also half British, I have always had a soft spot for the three lions. So who knows, right? Let’s just enjoy the next 4 weeks. Nothing that will be done now will affect the local politics of Qatar but maybe by welcoming in all these different cultures into their country, some of the imported liberalism may even come off and inspire the locals by cultural osmosis to rise up and have their demands heard? This tournament may have a groundbreaking, emancipating effect on the entire region. Not quite causing “peace in the Middle East",” but I do believe exposing themselves to the rest of the world in this fashion may do quite a bit to bring this country forward into the 21st century in terms of human rights. The potential is definitely there.
Here, as with Germany winning the world cup, hope will always spring eternal that the cup will have a net positive on the world.
Again, thanks for reading and let me know your predictions below in the comments.
Football is my religion and as such I don’t need to believe in its earthly organisers who hijack the belief for their own financial benefit, to have faith in it. Just like the Vatican for catholicism or any other religion ruled by a hegemony, you don’t have to agree with the organisations to see the beauty. I feel football has a lot of redeeming qualities and tournaments like the world cup bring out the best in people. I firmly believe that. Playing football is a type of prayer and watching it, a form of meditation. Thanks for reading!
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