Hypocrisy rampant in Qatar
The World Cup began Sunday with most of the world cheering on Ecuador against the host team, Qatar. Ecuador obliged and beat the host nation 2-0, and the hope among many is that Qatar goes 0-3 and doesn’t even sniff the bracket part of the competition. Most of the rest of the world is rooting for Qatar to not only lose, but lose in spectacular fashion as payback for the (alleged) flat-out bribery it took for them to land this competition.
It may seem harsh, but in the eyes of many, a country with all of Qatar’s flaws that, in an underhanded way, got the most prestigious international tournament in sports deserves this kind of treatment. Nobody is rooting for Qatar except for fans of Qatar, and that’s really the way it should be when you look at the big picture.
The World Cup shouldn’t be contested in Qatar for a number of reasons beyond the way they were able to land it in the first place. We can start with the climate (it is extremely hot, and that’s why it was pushed back so late in the year) and the fact that in some places it lacks the basic infrastructure necessary to handle a massive influx of people.
It is also one of the richest countries in the world, and yet it is one that is constantly battling allegations about human rights violations, and it is a strict religious
culture that not only holds homosexuality as a sin, it has laws making it illegal.
The amazing thing is the United States is not only participating in the World Cup in Qatar, but we are supposed to celebrate it because soccer is the beautiful game.
It also seems as if the standards we hold our own states or cities to when determining the worthiness of being able to host important sporting events don’t apply to international events.
We apparently are only allowed to virtue signal about these things if it is within the States, but when it comes to other countries, well, the granddaddy of all political arguments — “that’s different” — applies.
I am old enough to remember that we couldn’t have an All Star Game in Georgia because someone wrote a law that prohibited political organizations from bribing voters with food and water within 150 feet of the polling place. I am also old enough to remember the NCAA yanking championships from states for similar, um, injustices.
And what about the professional golfers, led by Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson, who were branded evil for taking “blood money” from Saudi Arabia in their LIV Tour? Saudi Arabia and Qatar are obviously two separate countries that share a border, but they also share many of the same beliefs and practices, especially with respect to human rights and the LGBTQ community, so why are we not attacking the soccer players, too?
It is an interesting question that will never really be answered, yet here we are at the grandest stage of all and the United States is competing in a country with countless human rights violations, especially toward migrant workers, and a place where the LGBTQ community is illegal according to the laws.
None of this should be surprising, as nobody was supposed to notice the United States competing in the Olympics in China, either. China also has a long history of human rights violations, but that all got swept under the rug so we could all sit around the TV and chant “USA” when Chloe Kim and Nathan Chen won gold medals.
There was a silver lining, though, in that FIFA and all the others who organized this event — along with one of the main sponsors, Budweiser — got exactly what they deserved for agreeing to hold the World Cup in a country like Qatar.
No beer, which means no beer sales, which means an estimated $70 million or more down in sales down the tubes. That almost makes me smile when I type it because they are getting what they deserved.
And are we shocked by the fact that Qater waited until two days before the tournament began to announce that beer sales in and around stadiums would be prohibited? Do you think they would have won the bid had this been a part of the discussion way back when FIFA was looking to award a country this World Cup?
We all know the answer, and we also know that this decision makes it very clear that Qatar’s government is making the rules — and that is generally not been a good thing for many groups of people.
As for the United States, the team did what it always does — made sure we probably won’t have to tune into this competition for very long.
They played a brilliant half of soccer to start their World Cup journey and led Wales 1-0 at the half but couldn’t maintain it and ended up with a disappointing 1-1 draw.
Had the U.S. won Monday, it was very likely that they were going to make it through to the group portion of the tournament. Instead, they are likely going to have to sweat it out, as they will likely lose Friday to England, beat Iran and finish pool play 1-1-1 and then need some tiebreak help to advance.
It seems to be a recurring theme with the United States in the World Cup, despite the fact that soccer has been growing in popularity and participation in this country for at least the past 40 years.
Monday’s game was one the U.S. — which was favored in this game — had to win, especially once it took a 1-0 lead going into halftime. They couldn’t finish, and as a result they took only one point, as opposed to three, in the standings.
Hey, there is good news: The U.S. roster is the youngest among all of the teams in the field. That means that four years from now, they are going to really be a force to be reckoned with ... OK, I’m just joking. We have heard that song way too many times to be fooled by it again.
The U.S. men’s national team already feels irrelevant in this World Cup. But given all the controversy surrounding the host country, maybe that is a good thing.