Summary of today's events in sports, 18.11 (Sport1)
It's all a matter of timing.
Usually when a person arrives drunk in the waiting lounge before an international flight, holding a bottle of beer and shouting loudly, he is immediately stopped by the security forces.
If he is a football fan, and also wears a Mexico shirt, miraculously everything is forgiven and accepted with understanding.
This is how four of the Hiknos arrive in the waiting room, singing to them with pleasure and shouting cheers - at any other "normal" time and place their behavior might be considered abnormal, not to mention threatening, but that evening the Abu Dhabi airport served not only as a stopover for Qatar, but as a magical arena of Pre-football, within which the rules are different, the codes are different.
And yes, it is allowed to shout and get excited.
Yes, it is allowed to sing loudly.
And the people will not be frightened, will not be deterred, but on the contrary, will smile in recognition and understand the source of the excitement: going to the World Cup.
In those minutes football won.
All the ugly corruption, the exploitation of the workers, the destruction of the game by despicable officials, in those minutes football became not only a source of joy and pleasure, but an international language.
Every fan of the game knows that soccer is the ultimate ice breaker.
You are with a stranger, from a different and distant culture, you just start talking to him about football - and within a minute you are both laughing, making fun of each other, arguing loudly, empathizing, feeling like you know each other.
The game is brotherhood.
You are allowed to shout, get excited and sing loudly and no one will be scared or shy away (Photo: Paz Hasdai)
And so, suddenly, in the waiting room, five Argentines stand up to them and answer the Mexicans with a song that included quite a few chants of "potas", and there is no anger.
These are non-violent curses, there is no enmity in them, just entertainment, a burst of energy.
And here come the Ecuadorians who are also shouting and teasing with a smile, and from the side watching them is a female fan wearing a Canada shirt, next to them a father and son from Serbia, two Moroccan fans and a whole family wearing the same shirt of the US team, and everyone is shouting, each in their own personal and national style, all cheering on the players Those who are not present, are all amused and enjoying themselves, and embody in their very being what this World Cup is supposed to be: an international celebration.
Unfortunately, the celebration comes to a bit of a halt upon arrival in Doha.
The investment is considerable, you can really feel the money pouring out without account and without restraint, but it is not enough.
The grandiose signs hang everywhere and cover magnificent towers, but exactly on them the wearers of the cap wrote the line "Sometimes I pass by huge ornate buildings, and it doesn't do me anything."
At the moment the tournament is surrounded by bad energies and the general feeling of the crowd that the game has been stolen from them again and given to bad hands for money greed and evil, is present in every corner.
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A feeling of greed for money and wickedness is present in every corner (photo: Paz Hasdai)
Is this what an international celebration looks like?
Approximately (photo: Paz Hasdai)
The thing is, football fans don't ask for much from the game.
Most of them, especially the older ones among them, remember times when they sat on stone stands under the scorching sun, drank tropical and snacked on a bagel with thyme, and that was it, that was enough.
No one is impressed by the excessive construction of Doha, by this wild and excessive splendor that often manifests itself in a lack of taste.
We want real football, not an artificial world.
The Qatari money does the opposite.
Not only does he not impress anyone, but he arouses antagonism.
Not only does it not create a sense of luxury, but it is outrageous.
Every Mercedes that passes reminds of the injustice of Qatar's victory.
Every beautiful office tower conjures up thoughts of brown envelopes changing hands.
All the signs, the pictures, the flags - everything feels like another attempt to buy something they don't deserve.
But history, tradition or atmosphere, these are things that cannot be bought.
For example, the stadiums.
Every few kilometers in the city you see a new and modern stadium, specially built, and who knows how long it will last.
How can it be compared to stadiums in Europe or South America, for example, each of which has a unique character, and a layer of history.
Each of them is full every Shabbat with crowds of spectators.
Each of them is not just a stadium, but a holy home for many, where every concrete corner is soaked and experienced endless unforgettable moments.
How can this be compared to a structure that was erected for a few days, just to clean up the image of a corrupt country.
"An attempt to clean up the image of a corrupt country" (Photo: Paz Hasdai)
Decorated streets, but still empty (photo: Paz Hasdai)
Even the heart of the game - the crowd - currently does not flood the streets of Doha, the more decorated and empty they are, the more despondent and angry they become.
It is likely that the situation will improve, because in fact the tournament has not yet started and as more teams start playing, more fans will flow into the country, but for now at least the business is struggling to pick up.
Thousands of volunteers are spread out on the streets of Doha, full of good intentions, and currently they have no one to help them.
The setting spent on moments looks pathetic and lacks awareness.
What Qatar desperately needs now is for football to start already.
May the games begin, and the players and national teams, Messi and Argentina, Neymar and Brazil, threatening Germany, France and Portugal, and with them all the memories and prestige of the tournament, will appear on the field.
Let there be highlights, summaries, highlight moments, pictures of joy from the stands, celebrations, shock, the main thing is to start something that will distract the world from the things around it, and bring it back to talking about the beloved tournament.
Let's see summaries from Qatar, dramas from Qatar, moments of happiness and tears of crying from Qatar, something that will add some depth to Qatar.
Because right now she's just getting in the way.
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World Cup 2022