An authentic football match appeared after the opening’s cold theatre but its most important moment was Iran’s defiant stand against singing the national anthemWell, that was unexpected. After the cold, cold theatre of Qatar 2022’s opening game, elite sport reimagined as a despot’s light-show, something remarkable happened on Monday afternoon in Doha.As night fell over the vast, swooping Khalifa International Stadium (all these World Cup structures are vast and swooping; unless specifically told otherwise, assume vast and swooping) England and Iran produced something that felt jarringly real, oddly warm, suspiciously authentic. Continue reading...
Lack of preparation time means that most competing nations in Qatar will not have had the chance to try fresh faces or tacticsIf only the World Cup could be about the football. Last week, Fifa sent a letter to the football authorities of the 32 competing nations to urge them to “focus on the football” and to ensure it is not “dragged into every ideological or political battle”. Which is fine so long as you are not gay, a woman, a migrant labourer, a believer in democracy or a person with a conscience – or indeed any of the people Gianni Infantino claimed to be in his risibly hypocritical speech on Saturday.This is, of course, the same Fifa president who...
Milan defender’s poor displays against Chelsea could cost him a place in England’s squad to QatarAt this rate Gareth Southgate is going to have to bow to public pressure and stuff his team with all the attackers when England face Iran in their opening game at the World Cup next month.The defensive concerns are mounting for England’s manager. If the possibility of John Stones returning from the hamstring injury that forced him off against Germany last month is a positive, then it is counteracted by Harry Maguire’s exile from Manchester United’s starting XI and Kyle Walker undergoing groin surgery last week. Even someone with Walker’s recovery speed will find it hard to win the race to be fit for Qatar...
Tainted Qatar 2022 is unlikely to be won by Gareth Southgate’s side, but lose in the wrong manner and it could cost him his jobNine years ago the then new chairman of the Football Association, Greg Dyke, spoke of his aims for England’s men’s football team. “I want to set the whole of English football two targets,” he said. “The first is for the England team to at least reach the semi-finals of the Euro Championship in 2020 and the second is for us to win the World Cup in 2022.”So far better than expected then – but one big step to come, win the blood-soaked, tainted World Cup in Qatar. It always seemed a ridiculous target on which to...
After helter skelter draw with Germany, Gareth Southgate must be ruthless and must start with one of his generalsFarewell, then, to all that. We will meet again: at the Khalifa International Stadium, Doha in eight weeks’ time as a matter of fact. But this felt like something else, a final trip to Wembley, probably, surely, for Gareth Southgate six years into this odyssey.And if this is to be a last note in that flip-book – so many memories: the fine results, the tepid midweek draws, the gakked-up post lockdown riot squad – there was at last a sense of familiar faces and old habits. Not to mention a shock of life too from this team that isn’t quite ready to...