Qatar World Cup Reflections- Day 7

Another day of relaxation, which we decided we'll just spend working in the hotel and walking around Corniche.

The hotel Ezdan we're staying in is a Vegas-sized 3,000 room behemoth, with a massive courtyard that contains an Olympic-sized pool and tennis sized football pitch, which got Karim excited. The hotel has been fully booked throughout our stay with lots of fans donning their team jerseys at all hours, especially Argentinian ones. Having seen these fans in multiple versions of the World Cup, I can confidently say they are probably the most die-hard and committed bunch. The previous evening, we met with one who came all the way from Tucuman in the northwest of Argentina. His trek took him almost four days and included busses, planes, trains, and automobiles. I asked him what about the Argentinian financial crisis. He said he still wouldn't miss the World Cup for anything.
Interestingly, our hotel has been very quiet with barely any rowdiness that is typically associated with football fans. Some English guys with whom I had had dinner were discussing why English fans were not as drunk as usual given they could pretty much drink outside the stadium as much as they like and even inside in the hospitality sections. Their hypothesis is that there was so much to do around the city that they didn't have much time to sit around and binge. A Dutch fan had a different take, "Budweiser isn't real beer." Interestingly, news from Holland is that their relatively few fans who made it here have written back home to say this may just be the best World Cup they'd ever been to. The reason? Too convenient and super fan friendly. This opposed to the continental tournament waiting for us in the US, Mexico, and Canada in 2026, and which will have fans jetting across 4 time zones.
In the evening, one of my besties made it from Lebanon for us to watch the England France game tonight; and we all went walking the length of the Corniche all the way to Souq Waqif to pick up some tickets which my magician son miraculously managed to find us for the earlier Argentina-Holland game. One Qatari friend described the previous Argentinian game as akin to a "religious ceremony" not to be missed. I had watched Argentinians chanting and jumping up and down in Buenos Aires. I knew exactly what he meant
We found the Corniche jam packed with locals and fans, with musical and dance performances every 100 meters or so. The variety included African, Omani, Palestinian, American, and notably a concert by famous Kuwaiti Oud soloist, Khaled El Mulla, whose songs were all being sung along by the thousands surrounding the stage. Meanwhile at the Fan Fest, we missed Jamaican Julian Marley's show and in another part of town famous Egyptian Amro Diab. In the next few days, I hear Robbie Williams will be playing here as well. Chill is the best way to describe the atmosphere here. People taking it all in. One thing is for sure: Arabs sure know how to throw a party!
Heading back to the hotel, we bumped into Carlos Osorio, Mexico's former national team coach who's a Colombian friend of a friend. He was surprised to be recognized. We talked about his hometown of Medellin, which I had lived and loved. One former star player and fellow center back also here is Oscar Ruggieri. He won the Cup with Diego Maradona for Argentina in 1986. He is one of the most loved football commentators in Argentina and Latin America with a wicked sense of humor and humility not very characteristic among Argentinians. I've seen him a couple of times at a distance. Would be nice to bump into him.
One of my old football team mates a Lebanese Brazilian reached out and said he is in Doha together with a couple of other team mates. My childhood coach and mentor will also be here. How awesome it will be to reunite with these guys after so many years to share stories of sweat and toil from our footballing trenches! It will also be good weekend banter to prep for the serious business of the upcoming games Argentina-Holland and England-France !!!





















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