Qatar head for exit as least successful host nation

The gilded stadiums are among the most spectacular in the world. The seafront is sparkling and the skyscrapers are draped with largerthan-life banners featuring the stars of the World Cup.

Fans crowd around big screens throughout the city to watch football along the waterfront in Doha, or at the upscale Pearl Marina. Streets are canopied by the national flags of the 32 teams playing in this year’s World Cup, and restaurants are packed. So is the fan zone, where Colombian singer Maluma performed on the eve of the opening game.

The only thing missing is a winning team.

Qatar became the first host nation in World Cup history to lose the opening match, and only the second host to be eliminated from the group stage. South Africa in 2010 were the first to be eliminated in group stage but still had a chance to advance in their third and final group match.

Not Qatar. This time the hosts were eliminated after just two games — a 2-0 loss to Ecuador in the World Cup opener, then a 3-1 loss to Senegal — to make yesterday’s 2-0 loss to the Netherlands meaningless for the Qataris even before the game began.

Three games and three losses. A total flop?

Qatar coach Felix Sanchez says absolutely not.

“I think these players have achieved a great deal over the last years. Now we need to be aware that to compete at this level, we are still lagging behind,” Sanchez said the day before Qatar’s final match. “I think if we work at this on a daily basis, gradually we will be closer to this level.

“I don’t feel disappointed or embarrassed,” Sanchez continued. “The World Cup is the most demanding competition, and only a few can be here. We are still slightly behind.

“The country will continue working so that the next time Qatar comes to a World Cup — hopefully soon — we’ll be able to compete better than we did this time.”

Qatar spent at least US$200 billion on the infrastructure required to host the global tournament. There’s no known figure on what it spent to build an actual team, an endeavour in which Qatar had 12 years to scout prospects, develop talent, and assemble a squad capable of competing against the best in the world.

The final 26 selected indeed includes 16 Qatar-born players. But the first-ever goal for Qatar at the World Cup was scored by Mohammed Muntari, who was born in Ghana, and the roster includes players born in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, France, Iraq and Sudan.

In preparation for the World Cup, Qatar wooed other confederations to play against their team in an effort to improve. The team received guest entries into the South American and Concacaf championships, and played friendlies that were loosely attached to qualifying for the 2020 European Championship. It was all tied to Qatar Airways sponsorship and beIN TV rights.

It was not without controversy: Following a 4-0 loss to Qatar in the 2019 Asian Cup semifinals, the United Arab Emirates protested the eligibility of Sudanese-born Almoez Ali and Iraqi-born Bassam Al-Rawi. The case was dismissed when Qatar presented evidence claiming Ali’s mother was born in the country.

atar won that tournament for the first time in their history, beating regional powerhouses Japan in the final.

“To go back 12 years, the vast majority of the Qatari national team were expatriates. Today the vast majority are Qataris,” said Dr. James Dorsey, an adjunct senior fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“But it’s a small country. It’s a small pool they can draw from. They are by definition disadvantaged by countries that are much bigger,” he continued. “For those who look at this in purely sporting terms, yes, it is important that they are the first to lose an opening match and to crash out in the group stage. I think in a broader perspective, that’s not going to make a big difference to the government.”

Despite the early World Cup exit, Qatar’s team is expected to continue to develop and grow, and perhaps even someday rival Middle East powerhouse teams including Iran and Saudi Arabia, which both won group-stage matches at this year’s World Cup.

“As a player, we would have wanted the Qatari fans to be proud of us. It wasn’t our fate to win. But thank God we were at least able to score in the World Cup,” Ali said.