World Cup Diary | Day Five

Day 5: Switzerland v Cameroon, Uruguay v South Korea, Portugal v Ghana, Brazil v Serbia

In the 10 years leading up to this World Cup, Qatar's message was simple: everybody will be welcome. You'll be able to drink alcohol in the stadiums. You'll be able to wear rainbow colours. We only ask you respect our culture. So much for that.

Before Wales' game with the USA fans were asked to remove, or had items of clothing confiscated, that had rainbow insignia on. Grant Wahl, a US journalist, was detained by security. He was taken to a room and kept there for over half an hour, they confiscated his phone and repeatedly asked him to remove his shirt.

“You can make this easy” one security officer said. You can make this easy sounds like a line straight from a gangster movie. Perhaps when they realised that Grant Wahl has north of 800,000 followers on twitter, and the photo he had tweeted before they took his phone from him was trending, they realised they needed to let him in. “We were just trying to protect you from fans who might harm you for wearing the shirt”.

There might be some truth in that. A different US supporter had a rainbow flag on the metro, travelling to a game, “this is banned in our country” said one of the passengers, before threatening to kill him.

But after urgent discussion with the Football Association of Wales, FIFA have now announced that clothes with rainbows on are allowed after all, and supporters will not be detained when wearing them to any venue for the rest of the tournament.

U-turn after u-turn, no wonder no-one knows where they stand. All aboard the magical FIFA merry-go-round. To me, an item of clothing with a rainbow on is innocuous, perhaps to a Qatari it is some kind of violence to their eyes. But to give the message for 10 years that the symbol would be allowed, and then to detain people on the gate, whichever way you look at it, is completely ridiculous.

It was of particular importance to the FA of Wales that crisis talks with FIFA over detention of fans reach a resolution. Cymru have waited a couple of generations to see the red, yellow and green of their proud nation at a World Cup. They know they might not have another opportunity to see this happen again in their lifetimes. And to have waited so long, and to be treated in such a way at the gates of a football stadium, is an emotionally charged issue.

But this Friday's Wales v Iran game will be emotionally charged for both sides. Back in Iran, the situation seems like it will get worse before it gets better. And in a move that is seen as a possible warning to the Iran World Cup squad, Voria Ghafouri, one of the nations most famous footballers, has been arrested for: “insulting and intending to destroy the national football team and speaking against the regime”.

Ghafouri had recently tweeted, “If you are indifferent to the killing of people, you are not an Iranian and you are not even a human being”.

Iran's coach, Carlos Queiroz, is well aware of the pressure his players are under. And was frustrated at journalists today asking about the revolution back home, and I'll paraphrase here:“Why don't you ask Southgate about why they left Afghanistan and all the women alone?”

There's been a lot of whataboutism and other logical fallacies in the debates surrounding this tournament. The reasons no one has asked England coach Gareth Southgate about the UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan are numerous. Firstly, in terms of the media's news cycle, it might as well be ancient history, it happened over year ago, the HBO documentary has already been released. Secondly, it wasn't a directive that came from the UK, UK troops were under the UN-authorised, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. It was not directly a UK-elected official's decision to withdraw at that time. Thirdly, it was a non-domestic issue which would almost certainly not directly affect any player, or their family members.

Iran is in the middle of protests which appear to be turning into a full-scale revolution, that is historically significant news which will personally affect everyone associated with Iran, including the players.

But this World cup is still a little bit about football though isn't it?

For much of the day the football didn't seem to get out second gear. Maybe it's the awkward timing of this world cup, the lack of preparation time for most nations. Football is a team game and having fantastic individuals doesn't mean they will find a mesmeric rhythm of passing that creates the spectacle associated with the beautiful game.

In two tight affairs Switzerland edged Cameroon 1-0, and South Korea and Uruguay played out a goalless draw. The South Korean team stood out, their backline made up entirely of players with the last name Kim, including the goal keeper. An absolute nightmare for radio commentary.

“Kim gathers the ball and looks up, he sees one Kim free, but two Kims marked, Another Kim on the far side screaming for the ball, how he didn't see Kim there is beyond me, Kim now, plays it to Kim, back to Kim, to Kim, through to Kim, Kiiiiiiiiimmmmm”

The football sprang to life in the second half of the Portugal Ghana game. Portugal are experts in diving and feigning injury. Their screams are wonderfully sculpted, just like their body shapes, when they arch their backs in mid-air, they are the envy of the ballet world.

It wasn't just Portugal though, the referee was falling for everything too.

And when a Ghana attacker breathed too hard near Cristiano Ronaldo, the unemployed striker planted his feet, tucked in his head, and executed a lovely forward pike. And when he converted the penalty he became the first mens player to score at 5 world cups.

The dives kept coming and Ghana fought bravely despite being overcome by an overwhelming sense of injustice. Jao Felix was the worst offender, throwing himself to floor time and again in efforts to get the Ghanian players booked. Shameful.

Ghana deserved a last minute equaliser and almost got it when Iñaki Williams hid behind the goal keeper, as he rolled the ball out Williams snuck in, but slipped at the vital moment. 3-2 Portugal.

Onto Brazil then and there wasn't the typical jogo bonito – beautiful game – from Brazil though they dominated. It didn't need much though against a Serbian side who looked awed by their superstar opponents. Brazil's second, a scissor kick from Spurs Richarlison, finally shrugged off any lingering nerves. The only worry for the South Americans was an injury to talismanic figure Neymar who will be assessed on Friday.

The first round done then with every team playing once. Netherlands, England, France, Spain and Brazil all had excellent starts. Argentina and Germany will wish to recover from huge shocks and though Belgium won, they will want to improve significantly on a poor showing against a very unlucky Canadian team.

With FIFA finally making a sensible decision in ensuring fans are not detained at entry to stadiums, perhaps we can finally focus on the football.

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDITS

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.