The Zimbabwe Independent

Qatar World Cup: What to expect

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Harry Kane (pictured) will never have known projection like it — a 30ft image of the England captain is wrapped around a glass skyscraper in central Doha.

It makes him a dominant part of the visual landscape on the road to the World Cup media centre, where every single prematch press conference will be held during the tournament.

He’s not the only one. Luis Suarez, Luka Modric, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane are among the 13 players also ‘wrapped’ around buildings. One from each competing nation should follow between now and November 20, if image rights approval can be secured.

The World Cup and its stars are being paraded like never before by a host country. The players are pictured everywhere, as is the tournament slogan, ‘Now is all’.

But behind the razzmatazz, how prepared is this tiny nation for an influx of one million fans? and what will the experience be like for supporters?

It’s World Cup fever from the moment you board a Qatar airways plane. robert Lewandowsk­i and Neymar feature in the on-board safety video. The pillows state: ‘Football is passion.’

Hamad Internatio­nal airport has a smooth efficiency, with a Metro station at Terminal 2 linking the network’s red line to central Doha. The Metro has stops within a 10-minute walk of five of the eight stadiums, including Khalifa Internatio­nal, where England start against Iran, and ahmad bin ali Stadium, where Wales play all three group games.

But beware jumping on the wrong carriage: some are family and women-only. For the first time, any fan with a ticket to a game can ride the host country’s Metro for free, by waving the all-important Hayya Card app — which must be secured to get visa access to the country and to matches.

The Uber network is effective, though supply will be severely tested. In an attempt to get traffic off the frequently gridlocked roads, Qatar has designated the month of the tournament a school holiday.

Where to stay?

It’s a chaotic, last-minute race to make rooms available and this a source of real concern to the Football Supporters’ associatio­n (FSa). The main hotels in Doha have had 80 per cent of their rooms taken from them by FIFa, who have been marketing them.

But a number of hoteliers say that when they get the unsold ones back — at the end of the month — their priority will be their oil and gas industry customers, who install their rig workers in them.

Many of the cheapest $80-a-night villa and apartments have gone and though 20,000 more rooms are expected to become available in the next few weeks, there is a big rush to get them finished in time.

There’s been a huge demand for November 24 and 25, the early days of the tournament, so the FSa say anyone still looking to book for the entire two weeks should consider splitting bookings by moving from location to location during the tournament. This might help keep costs down.

The Qataris have just announced that local people will be allowed to let out their own villas to internatio­nal fans. There’s very little under $230 a night on airbnb.

There are 20 properties on booking.com for the first three nights of the tournament. Many different contractor­s are building the facilities. That appears to be contributi­ng to the challenges of getting a clear picture of what will be ready and when. Qatar says there will be 100,000 rooms available on any one night.

Tent life

a tented village, ‘al Khor Camp’ which is one of the official accommodat­ion options, was still under constructi­on when Sportsmail visited 10 days ago and is being built out into the desert, on a dead-end road, 40 minutes north by car from central Doha.

We see square canvas dwellings that campers would walk into, rather than Glastonbur­y-style tents.

Security officials guard it fiercely but tell us that there will be beds in the tents, a communal swimming pool, gym, tennis courts and air conditioni­ng. Small wooden food kiosks are already built.

One will sell Egyptian and

Lebanese ‘koshari and falafel’. another is the ‘Blue Mountain Cafe’. Qatar says 1,000 ‘Bedouinsty­le’ tents will be pitched. The cheapest being marketed at al Khor is the ‘Deluxe

King Tent for two’, which is spacious with wardrobes and a flat-screen TV but is a cool $415 a night. Fans will have to make their own entertainm­ent up there and that won’t include alcohol, though the complex is built on the al Farkiah beach. It’s only a few miles from the al Bayt stadium, where England play USa. There is also to be a Caravan City, run by a company called asco Trading.

Or cabin fever

The tents certainly look a great deal more appealing than the ‘cabins’ that the World Cup organisers are offering.

The artists’ impression­s show communal areas but when Sportsmail visits the site — again, very much still under constructi­on

— we find row upon row of soulless metal buildings in shades of yellow, pink and turquoise on a desert site at ras Bu Fontas inside the ‘Free Zone’ off the airport road.

— Dailymail.

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