Path lined in gold turns to dust in the sand
There was something slightly poetic about Qatar’s fate at the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
After the longest — and most expensive — build-up ever conceived for a host nation, they were the first eliminated from the tournament, following their 3-1 loss to Senegal on Saturday.
They have already claimed the worst record for a World Cup host across almost a century and could finish with three straight defeats, given they face the Netherlands tomorrow.
Qatar were always going to be considerable underdogs at this tournament but have failed to rise to the occasion, paralysed rather than propelled by the spotlight.
It will be jarring for Qatar’s powerbrokers, who have invested so much in readying the squad for their chance at the top table.
Watching Qatar’s recent demise brought back memories of a scene in Hamilton seven years ago.
It was during the 2015 Under-20 World Cup, with New Zealand about to face Portugal in the second-round clash in Hamilton.
Qatar had already been eliminated — from a tough group that included Colombia, Senegal and the Portuguese — but their staff and management had stayed on in a fact-finding capacity.
Their entourage was massive as they walked into Waikato Stadium, a seemingly never-ending stream of maroon tracksuits who took up rows of the grandstand.
One of their officials told me there were high hopes for that crop of players, who had emerged top of Asian qualifying for the tournament and would be a “perfect age” in 2022.
Current Qatar coach Felix Sanchez ran that under-20 team and has been part of the project since 2013. And what a project.
Since being awarded the World Cup in 2010, Qatar have played 31 games against European nations and another eight against top Uefa clubs, including Lazio, Udinese and Fiorentina.
They’ve also faced Brazil and Argentina and were a guest team at the 2019 Copa America and 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, where they lost to the United States in the semifinals.
In an unprecedented move, they were also invited to join the preliminary stages of European World Cup qualifying last year, participating in Group A alongside the likes of Portugal, Ireland and Serbia, to gain extra match practise.
Given their population of around three million, Qatar have also spent the past 12 years trying to broaden their talent base.
The process of naturalising players is not unique to Qatar but has been controversial, especially with young Africans being recruited by moneyed academies in the gulf state. Ten of Qatar’s World Cup squad were born outside the country.
Everything looked on track when they were surprise winners of the 2019 Asian Cup, beating Japan in the final after toppling South Korea, Iraq and Saudi Arabia on the way.
They steadily progressed, climbing from 110 in Fifa’s rankings in 2010 to 50 ahead of this tournament and Qatar had some promising results over the years, including wins over Serbia, Russia, Ecuador and Switzerland and draws with Ireland, Iceland and Paraguay.
The Qatar team also enjoyed an unprecedented tournament preparation. The players were engaged in camp for six months, based in Europe as a team for much of that time.
They had the luxury of 18 games between July and November, when almost every other participating nation couldn’t assemble much due to club leagues (Senegal played five times during the same period, Ecuador thrice and the Netherlands twice).
But all that time, all that money and all that work ultimately came to nothing, as the Qatari team wilted under pressure when it mattered, and one of the richest nations on Earth was defeated by two of the poorest.