It will be difficult for football to make its way in such an exclusive World Cup, so little World Cup, the one that opens its 22nd edition this Sunday in Qatar shaken by turbulence.
A tournament stained since its infamous proclamation in 2010 that cost Joseph Blatter the position of FIFA president and that this Saturday left his successor, Gianni Infantino, in a very bad light.
The first, such as Michel Platini, then UEFA ruler, fell for corruption after an investigation of the vote favorable to Qatar.
On the day before the opening of the tournament (Qatar-Ecuador, 5:00 p.m. in Spain, 1:00 p.m. in Buenos Aires, 11:00 a.m. in Washington, Quito and Bogotá, 10:00 a.m. in Mexico City), Blatter's disciple wanted to whitewash the Qatari regime.
He came to understand the marginalized in Qatar because he, too, was excluded for having freckles in his childhood.
Far from encouraging the reforms required by a country that penalizes homosexuality with death, despises women and mistreats immigrants, Infantino, in a very forced intervention, charged against the European miseries of the last 3,000 years and all those "hypocritical ” who now gives moral lessons to Qatar.
Actually, in his subconscious he was referring to FIFA, cornered by so much scandal and by its determination to whitewash the Qatari regime instead of unceremoniously waving the flag of human rights.
In Qatar 2022, FIFA has scored the first goal on its own goal.
By the way, the footballers already know that Infantino can say in public what they are prohibited from, vetoed as they have any political proclamation screen-printed on a shirt.
Even to offer condolences through that legal channel, as Iniesta did with Jarque.
The disturbing message from the FIFA chief executive will mark the start of a championship in question not only because of the pertinent and inevitable social reproaches, but also because it hit the wrong foot.
Sportingly, the World Cup of the unknown.
Due to the dates, the extreme humidity, the custom tuning of the fans… Everything is so strange that even Luis Enrique, so ulcerous before the media appearances, has launched himself as a
streamer.
He, the self-proclaimed leader of La Roja, will govern a Spain that has regained competitiveness.
He does not recruit catwalk players, but with the accentuated sense of group instilled by the coach, the team was reborn in the last Euro Cup and almost toasted the last League of Nations.
Luis Enrique has adjusted the scaffolding of a team with the impudence of many cadets —the average age is 25 years and 312 days— and the worldliness of some resistant ones.
From Gavi, Balde, Pedri, Ansu Fati, Hugo Guillamón, Nico Williams and Yeremi Pino to Busquets, Azpilicueta, Carvajal, Jordi Alba, Koke and Asensio, the only six in the squad who have played in a World Cup.
Costa Rica, Germany and Japan will be the first three dates for Spain, a happy guest, according to the captain, Busquets, at the facilities of the University of Qatar.
Spain does not appear in the favorites
pole
, a label that by payrolls hangs from Brazil, always Brazil.
This time that of Neymar and Vinicius.
And France, which, although it will have to recover from the loss of Benzema, still has a lot of rope with Mbappé and Griezmann in attack.
It will be necessary to see if Neymar, after his injury in Brazil 2014 and the bump in Russia 2018, now serves as a perch for the
canarinha
.
In the French case, nothing arouses more misgivings than internal coexistence itself.
It wouldn't be the first time that the
blues
ignited and collapsed like eleven solitudes.
With Messi — who trained alone on Saturday in the face of general concern — and Cristiano Ronaldo on the way out, it's time for Mbappé, whose belly button Didier Deschamps, the French coach, will have to regulate.
Qatar will also settle the curious ordeal between Neymar, Mbappé and Messi, the soundtrack of PSG.
The trinity of the Qataris, who revere them in the Parisian club, Qatar's first sports satellite.
Three companions, some not quite colleagues, fighting for an enthronement that they will not be able to share.
In his fifth World Cup, Messi looks less sorrowful, better sheltered than ever by the Praetorian guard that Lionel Scaloni, the albiceleste coach, has set up for him.
After Brazil, France and Argentina, on the way to the top are, in addition to Spain, the Germany of Kimmich and Musiala, and the England of Foden and Kane.
For something they are, together with the miraculous Uruguay, the participants in Qatar who have lifted the World Cup.
In the gutter, very famous, Italy was almost always raw, hit by a shock of reality.
In a World Cup, in which, as it is a short-lived tournament, any incident marks the beauty, glory is not usually improvised.
In fact, there were only five other finalists: Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Sweden, the Netherlands and Croatia.
In Qatar, the Netherlands, a team supervised by the singular Louis van Gaal, and the neighboring Belgium of Courtois and De Bruyne have arguments for a growth spurt.
Another team that asks for a clue to catch a flight is Portugal.
It has a great generation —Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Rúben Dias— to which Cristiano Ronaldo can put the finishing touch if he bridles his ego.
In such a shocking World Cup, anything can happen.
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