By Abhishek Khajuria
It’s about time. Curtains will be raised for the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup this coming Sunday when Qatar takes on Ecuador at the 60,000-seater Al Bayt stadium. After 12 years of being awarded the hosting rights, Qatar is going to be the host of the showpiece event of football. Excitement among football fans is sky high. So, let’s take a dive into the tournament.
Grand stadiums have been built from scratch in what is the smallest country ever to host the marquee event. This edition also marks the first time, the World Cup has been shifted from its traditional June-July window to a winter edition because of the intense heat players and fans alike would have been subjected to had it been held in the traditional window. This has meant an enforced mid-season break for the European domestic leagues (in addition to a cramped up domestic calendar and an early start and late finish to the season as well), which was frowned upon initially but has since been accepted as necessary by those concerned. Apart from the scheduling changes, the lack of hotel space for the lakhs of tourists who are going to throng the Middle-Eastern country, has been tackled by the country in an innovative way. Fans will be housed in tents erected specifically for the duration of the tournament and on top of that, there will be cruise vessels which will house thousands of fans with all sorts of amenities which fans would have expected were they to stay in an actual hotel. Thus, these cruise ships would serve as the floating versions of the latter. In addition to that, the new Doha Metro would enable the quick travel between different stadiums by supplementing the other rail networks.
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Coming to the footballing side, it is worth highlighting here that this is the last world cup with 32 teams participating as the next edition to be jointly held in the US, Canada and Mexico in 2026 will have 48 teams as part of FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s expansion plan of the World Cup. One of the major teams missing from the tournament is Italy, the reigning UEFA Euro champions (the continental competition for European nations). The Italians also missed out on qualifying for the previous edition held in Russia in 2018. The Netherlands, led by centre-back Virgil van Dijk, are back as well after missing out in 2018. Wales, led by Gareth Bale, are back among the elites after a long gap of 64 years, with their last appearance coming in Sweden in 1958. In the 2016 UEFA Euro, they went up till the semi-final stage, which should serve as a reminder to their rivals to not take them lightly. The Senegalese are not to be taken lightly either as they possess a competent squad though they have lost their talisman Sadio Mane of Bayern Munich to an injury. Same goes for Uruguay who possesses an impressive strikeforce consisting of the likes of Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani and Darwin Nunez.
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Coming to the contenders, from South America, traditional powerhouses Brazil and Argentina remain major contenders, especially with the latter’s form of late. Coming to Europe, defending champions France are pretty strong contenders if we keep aside the Champions’ curse (in the last 3 World Cups, the defending champions have been eliminated in the first round). Spain under Coach Luis Enrique will also be the ones to watch out. 4-time winners Germany, although having quality players in their ranks, need to get their act together to mount a serious title challenge. Belgium and England, semi-finalists at Russia 2018 will be aiming to do better. England has a star-studded squad, though the weight of expectations, as has always been the case with the English teams, will have to be carefully managed by Gareth Southgate and his troops. They lost to Italy in the UEFA Euro final last year and will have their eyes set on going all the way at Qatar 2022. Portugal, led by none other than Cristiano Ronaldo, will also be aiming at ultimate glory.
For a number of players, this is surely going to be their last hurrah on the global stage while some wonderkids will make their names known to the world. Coming to the former first, Lionel Messi and Ronaldo will be at their last World Cup. Messi’s long wait for an international trophy with his country came to an end last year when Argentina won the Copa America (South America’s continental competition for nations). The man called one of the greatest ever to grace the beautiful game, if not the greatest, will carry the weight of the expectations of the Argentinians who last tasted glory in 1986 by virtue of the magic of Diego Maradona. The last time Argentina reached the final was at Brazil 2014 where it lost to Germany 1-0, courtesy an extra-time goal by Mario Götze on that night at the Maracanã when every Messi fan around the globe (the writer included) went to bed heartbroken. The goal will be to do one better this time. Others notable names on this list are Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, Germany’s Thomas Müller, Cavani and Suarez of Uruguay, Luka Modric of Croatia, Thiago Silva and Dani Alves of Brazil, andPortugal’s Pepe. Moving on to the latter, talking of the wonderkids, a number of them are ready to announce themselves on the biggest stage of all. Pedri and Gavi (the latter being the reigning Golden Boy winner while the former his predecessor) and Ansu Fati of Spain, Jude Bellingham of England (whose mature play on the field belies the fact that he is just 19), Giovanni Reyna of the US, William Saliba and Eduardo Camavinga of France, Hannibal Mejbri of Tunisia, Jamal Musiala (having a spectacular domestic season so far with Bayern Munich) and Youssoufa Moukoko of Germany, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Gabriel Martinelli of Brazil and Xavi Simons of The Netherlands are the ones who will be keenly watched by fans and clubs alike with an eye on the future. The case of Simons is particularly interesting as he has earned his maiden call-up to the national team after an electric start to life at new club PSV Eindhoven. It was only a few months ago that he was labelled as a flop at previous club Paris Saint-Germain even though he was not given regular game time.
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The stars to feature at Qatar 2022 also bring with themselves some inspiring stories. Among them are Alphonso Davies of Canada who was born in a refugee camp in Ghana, brothers Inaki Williams (Ghana) and Nico Williams (Spain) whose parents crossed the Sahara Desert barefooted to Spain for their children and Christian Eriksen, the Danish midfielder, who last year, collapsed on the pitch during the UEFA Euro due to a cardiac arrest and after a break, has made a successful return to the pitch.
As already mentioned above, the winter schedule of the World Cup has necessitated changes in the domestic football calendar with fixture congestion and an enforced mid-season break for club football in Europe and elsewhere. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on the rest of the domestic season in terms of player rhythm with their clubs and of particular importance is the question that could the cramped-up season lead to injuries to players which could prove detrimental to their clubs’ chances for the rest of the season. However, for the time being, club football will take a back seat and eyes will be glued to the 32 national teams for the next month to see who emerges as the winner on 18th December of this unique World Cup.
Author is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
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