Introduction
In the opening game of the World Cup, the host nation Qatar faced off against Ecuador. It was obvious from the beginning of the game that Qatar were going to struggle. Ecuador had complete possession of the ball. Their talisman Enner Valencia also had scored two quick goals which put Ecuador 2-0 up in the first half. The second half was a lot different with Qatar getting some shots off but still did not look all that confident. Some people online made some memes about the second half. Noting that maybe some Qatari officials came into the Ecuadorian locker room and bribed them millions of dollars to take it easy on their home nation. There were also plenty of memes revolving around who exactly is supporting Qatar’s soccer team, no one really knew they existed until a month ago.
Drama surrounding this World Cup
Qatar has seen much criticism for their involvement in this World Cup. When Qatar won their bid on the World Cup back in 2010, it came as much surprise to the rest of the world. How would a country the size of Connecticut in the middle of the desert host a world tournament? As the years went by, Qatar spent billions of dollars on their infrastructure and other necessities. It became known that they were abusing their migrant workers where some of them were dying because of harsh conditions and no salaries. It slowly became public knowledge, and in 2015 a BBC crew went to report on the worker’s conditions but were arrested and deported back to their countries. This stirred even more drama which solidified a lot of people’s lack of interest in this World Cup and respect for Qatar as a country.
On top of all this drama, as of recently Qatar had banned alcohol, supporting LGBT and also wearing revealing clothing. This came not even a week before the tournament started and surprised everyone. Many people were pissed because they had bought all their tickets ranging around thousands of dollars only to find out there won’t be any alcohol. Many people have been making the argument, “well respect their religion, not everyone is like the Western world where every value is accepted.” This is the biggest load of baloney in my opinion. If Qatar didn’t want these issues of foreigners coming in and “disrespecting” their values then maybe don’t host one of the biggest sporting events in the world. It is ridiculous that those in Qatar have to follow strict guidelines or get threatened with being arrested or deported. If one wears a rainbow colored shirt they can be arrested or fined. If one is caught drinking alcohol it’s a night spent in jail. It is very frustrating to have so many cultures coming from around the world and then forcing them to follow very specific rules.
Conclusion
Regardless, I respect every culture and Qatar is not an exception. I think the city and the people living in it are beautiful and culturally rich. I wanted this tournament to go well in their favor but hosting a World Cup has historically not been profitable or helpful to one’s country. Overall, my whole thing is it is very annoying to have to watch a World Cup in the winter and seeing all the dead crowds in the stadium. All this just because some rich guy offered FIFA a crap load of money. I am not saying to boycott the World Cup but in general it’s good to be informed on this kind of topic. I believe this will go down in history as one of the worst run sporting events ever. I am still excited to see what this World Cup has in store but it definitely has not been the same ole World Cup I remember.
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https://soccersnax.com/blog/though-leadership/england-vs-united-states-prediction/
