2022 World Cup Diary – Part Eight (Belgium v Croatia, Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium)
Lukaku nightmare sees Belgians go home
Thursday 1st December 2022
Well it may have turned into December here, but thoughts were anywhere but Christmas, even if some of the stadium exteriors are lit up like Christmas trees. It doesn’t really feel like any time of year at this World Cup, and I’ve previously admitted I’ve lost track of the days of the week as early as last Saturday. Thursday was the penultimate full day of the eight full days I will be here in Qatar. A week before I travelled here from London, arriving at the Clusters at half time in the game between Portugal and Ghana – which seems an eternity ago now. Every full day on this nine night stay has seen me attend a match in the flesh at a different stadium. And it’s certainly been an experience, predictably different from any previous tournament.
Let’s start by talking about increased use of smartphones at matches. For the most part you needed them to get into the game. There were paper tickets, but the majority were on mobile phones. But once inside, reception was good and many people spent much of the game interacting with their phones. Sometimes it was photographing or filming the game, often it was messaging or in the Mrs’ case (she would attend four of the eight games she had tickets for) checking social media. The focus of everyone isn’t always on the game. The reality is that a significant number of attendees – for all kinds of reasons – are not people who regularly attend football matches, and were at the game was because it is an event they have been taken along to. Many of those who I imagine are based in Qatar (and the majority of the population seems to be Indian) were here as family groups – although sometimes without the mother. And there were some mothers with children but no father present also.
Remember also that locals could buy tickets very cheaply – the equivalent of £10. This is partly so that the tournament can be seen to be benefiting the enjoyment of the local population, but also, in the case of Qatar, to simply limit the numbers from abroad needing accommodation. The official guidance for locals was to drive their cars to the stadium, so as not to put more pressure on what is a relatively untested public transport system. That’s a huge irony given the carbon neutral mantra we keep hearing about these finals. People who are actually experts in these matters have called it a nonsense to make such a claim, but in a World Cup that is effectively a PR exercise, everything has to be taken with a pinch of salt, including the idea that the publicized reforms that benefit migrant workers will remain in place – if they ever were – after FIFA packs up and rolls out of town. I wonder how long Gianni Infantino will remain living in Doha? Not, I imagine, very long.
Let’s discuss the idea of the closeness of the stadiums to each other meaning you can watch more than a game a day. That is certainly possible if the kick offs are four hours apart. So for the first nine days of the tournament, people who were not exhausted by the walking could have filled their boots. There is a YouTuber by the name of Thogden who, sponsored by a couple of companies, is attempting to see every one of the 64 matches. At least tickets won't be a problem. However, he declared the way he would have seen four matches in a day was to leave at half-time. I am sorry, but that doesn’t count. The other thing about this – and I have not watched more than his first video from the tournament, is that on days like the Thursday about which I am writing, you have simultaneous kick-offs for the final group games. What does he do then? Catch ten minutes of England v Wales and then rush to USA v Iran to see the final 10 minutes? I’ve not watched his videos to find out the answer to this. It’s enough that he is not seeing full matches.
Anyhow, Belgium v Croatia. The Ahmed Bin Ali stadium is on the west side of Doha, and I traveled there on one of the direct buses provided from the Clusters. I’ve already written about drivers losing their way, and am aware of similar experiences from other England fans using the free ‘stadium express’ bus system, although hey, it’s free! This, incidentally, includes buses to other stadiums at the end of a game if you are seeing more than one in a day. Fascinating that originally FIFA prevented fans buying two tickets for different games on the same day, and seem to have relented.
Anyway, back to my – supposedly – 40 minute trip to the game on Thursday evening. I wasn’t concentrating, but after a while, I became aware that there were people discussing something with the driver and that he had lost his way. These guys work from a sat nav fitted onto the bus, but bear in mind that lots of roads have been closed – so I have no idea how accurate that is. The areas where buses drop passengers have been specially created, from steel barriers covered with the ubiquitous sheets of fabric with the Qatar 2022 World Cup branding. Anyway, we ended up with the normal cars trying to get into their car parks. Big queue. We could see the stadium out of the windows and the passengers were starting to get frustrated. The driver was at least directed down roads that were blocked off to the cars, but even so, he wasn’t sure where to go. Mercifully, at one point we encountered some kind of steward on a scooter. Whilst the driver was chatting with him and the passengers were becoming more and more irate – ‘let us out!’, banging fists on the windows kind of thing. We were led into a VIP bus park and allowed off. I gave the steward on the scooter a volley of my opinion – I was unleashing my frustration at the incompetence of the driver – which wasn’t called for, but hey, I was as angry as many on the bus as the prospect of missing the start of the game.
But the benefit of the VIP coach park is that – hallelujah – it is only about a 3 minute walk from the entrance. I am not sure what others behind me did – I was too far ahead of them as I saw a shortcut, but I could only see a VIP entrance and my smartphone ticket worked at the reader there. I decided against trying to actually get into the VIP section at the next checkpoint, and there was a gap in a barrier from the cheap seats section where a steward was letting people through, at least one way, meaning I could get to my intended section of the ground.
It was a salient reminder of the divide between those who pay silly money, or are corporate guests / FIFA freeloaders. Effectively, the surrounds of the stadium are split into two – the car parks situated next to the ground – minimizing the walking distance to get in, and the access for those who have not paid through the nose – and this includes the car parking for the ordinary Joe. For the great unwashed, generally, it is a bloody long walk. I am actually typing this on my flight back to the UK on Saturday 3rd December and my legs are aching. And I consider myself relatively fit. The one thing I am looking forward to about the rest of the tournament is not having to walk a couple of miles just to see a game of football. Of course, this isn’t helped by the walk at the other end when I depart and return to the room we are staying in. I will write about the sheer size of the Clusters another day. I recall Eddie Izzard running 26 miles in 26 days for charity. I would normally say I can’t imagine what that was like, but you know, I think now I have an inkling. It’s why I made no attempt to see more than a game a day when (once I was out in Qatar) I had the opportunity to pick up spare tickets.
The stadium is the most western of those used in the tournament, the final stop of the green Metro line and near the huge Mall of Qatar (which I never visited, I abhor shopping malls). I’ve seen footage of the exterior of the stadium changing colour, but this evening it was just blue, the walls of the stadium set behind some artistic ironwork.
At least my quick entrance meant I was in good time for the start of the game – something that would not have happened if the powers that be determined the bus driver had to locate the actual drop off point before releasing us from our captivity on the bus (I did look if there was an emergency exit lever near the doors, but all I could see were hammers to break a window, which could have got me into serious trouble).
My seat was facing down on the penalty area – longside they would call it in American sports and for all the world, what I believe FIFA would call a category 1 ticket. On that note, the ticket prices for those who were not Qataris were –
Category 3 (lower tier behind the goal) 250 riyad (approx. £60)
Category 2 (corner flag, lower and upper tier) 600 riyad (approx. £135)
Category 1 (pitchside) 800 riyad (approx. £180)
There were not too many category 3 available as the majority were issued to national associations for sale directly to their own fans. I bought category 2 tickets in the first come first served phase before the draw was made to see one game in each ground, and there were simply no category 3 tickets available then. I justified it to myself by reminding myself that this is the price of a halfway line upper tier ticket for a category A match at the Emirates.
The prices stated are for the group matches (except the Opening Ceremony and game, which has a higher price). Obviously with the knockout rounds, the amount to pay increases significantly, round by round.
Now a word on surveillance cameras. They are everywhere, but certainly inside football stadiums – and that includes the Emirates. On three separate occasions, the third being at this game, I saw a steward go to a row and tell a vaper not to vape. This third time, the steward came from behind, and I am far from convinced the he could have spotted it, so assume he was alerted by someone who caught sight of the transgression on camera. Nothing wrong with that on one level, especially if it’s used to identify coin throwers and prejudicial abuse. However, all the same, it was an eye opener. You might think you are simply watching a football match, but all the while, they are watching you!
What can be said about the game? A draw would see Croatia through, Belgium needed a win. This assumed a Moroccan victory over Canada, which duly took place. Croatia were arguably the better of the two teams in the first half, denied a penalty by Antony Taylor after VAR told him it was offside, although for some reason, Taylor was asked to view it on the touchline screen before agreeing.
Belgium introduced Lukaku at half-time for the ineffectual Mertens. Lukaku had four very presentable choices and missed the lot. Agony for the Belgians. Eden Hazard was thrown on in the 88th minute. It wasn’t enough, and the 0-0 draw sent Belgium home.
I went out with the Mrs after my return to the Clusters, visiting the souk in Al Wakra where the England players have been spotted seeing a bit of Qatar outside the team hotel. I was able to keep my eyes on developments because, unlike the main souk – Waqif, a number of the eateries had TVs, so as we were searching for something to eat, I was being continuously informed of the scores from the Germany v Japan and Spain v Costa Rica games. Although of course the Germans only had a point from their first two games, most people expected them to qualify, assuming Japan would not beat Spain. Manuel Neuer and company did their bit by beating Costa Rica, although there was a nice brief spell when it looked like both Spain and Germany might be eliminated. However, even though they won their game, the sheer margin of Spain’s opening match win against Costa Rica sent the Germans home as Japan won the group. As for the ball over the line discussion about Japan’s winning goal – I have three words. Frank, Lampard, Karma. (Oh and on the basis that the ball was still in, using the same criteria, Geoff Hurst’s second goal in the 1966 final was never over the line, but hey, VAR doesn’t stretch that far back.) What a topsy-turvy tournament it has been. If you’d told me before the tournament that Japan would lose to Costa Rica I’d have given you very long odds on them topping the group.
Football is at its best when it is unpredictable. We’ve got bored in England of Manchester City’s procession to the title each season, as good as they play. In Germany, it’s the same with Bayern. Paris St Germain don’t win the title every season in France, but most of the time they do. Juventus run of titles in Italy went on for nine years in a row, but the club’s activities are now shrouded in controversy after an investigation into their affairs. In honesty, there are heavy clouds over both PSG and Manchester City, but the Court of Arbitration has let them off the hook for the same reasons Qatar got the World Cup. Bayern Munich? Who knows? They are the Manchester United of Germany, but arguably better run on a football level, actually making use of their financial advantage on the field.
But World Cups – on the field at least – seem to be immune from financial chicanery. There is a purity to country v country, spirit and patriotism are more of a motivator than the mercenary nature of club football. And that may go some way to explaining why the underdogs are pulling off more surprises. Germany were eliminated by Sweden and Mexico four years ago, beaten in their final match by a South Korean team with nothing to play for – although that didn't stop the celebrating a surprise victory like it did. So Germany, winners in 2014, go home earlier than expected again. Football moves in cycles. Argentina did not win a major trophy after 1993 until last year. I occasionally think, will I ever see England win another World Cup in my lifetime (having been too young to have any notion of 1966). With FIFA being FIFA, one thing is absolutely nailed on – they won’t be hosting one before I kop it, and I have plans to be around a while yet.
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