Qatar was awarded the right to host the 2022 World Cup in December 2010 and, if you hold your memory strong enough, you will still hear the fumes and screams of indignation from the Zurich conference room. It ‘s probably closer now – 235 days away, according to Thursday’s clock – and the focus will be significantly on Friday at 5pm. BST, when the star draw ceremony will take place. England manager Gareth Southgate will be there, hoping the lottery assistants, including Cafu and Lothar Matthäus, winners of Brazil and West Germany respectively, can do him a favor. England are in first place with the seeds and Southgate would probably prefer to avoid Germany and the Netherlands from Pot 2. He was lucky enough to draw in his two previous tournaments, the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020, when the team reached the semifinals and final respectively. Can he stand it? It would be a mistake to describe the mood among the locals in Doha as overwhelming. They are looking forward to the tournament, but its traces are not exactly everywhere, even if there are billboards with the slogan: “Now it’s all”. Everything is quite conservative and restrained. Southgate, however, can feel the tingling of anticipation, the flood of World Cup memories, especially from his childhood. Like everyone else, the 51-year-old has vague memories of his first finals – Argentina in ’78, when England did not qualify – and intense memories of the next, Spain in ’82. That was when Italy beat West Germany in the final, having eliminated Brazil in the second group stage after this epic 3-2. Stage 974, one of eight stadiums to be used in the World Cup. Photo: David Levene / The Guardian “Seventy-eight was the first thing I remember; the tape, I had to support Scotland, which was painful, but I did it,” Southgate said. “And after ’82… not only do I like to see England but also the tears when Brazil came out and watched the final with Italy winning. “They will show videos in the draw of previous tournaments and we will not appear in many of them, so you will remind yourself. The World Cup is very special. It is the top. It’s still the ultimate prize. “ However, this version does not feel a little strange and disturbing given the issues in Qatar, namely the sad history of the Gulf state labor rights, illegal homosexuality and the male-dominated system that denies women the right to make basic decisions about life. their; “It’s the first World Cup in a Muslim country, the first in the Middle East and it’s the first World Cup in the middle of the season, so it’s a huge different feeling, culturally,” Southgate said, carefully grading his response. “But I went to the World Cup in South Africa [in 2010] – for the first time on the African continent – and it was an amazing experience. I went to Brazil [in 2014] – again, an amazing experience. “Part of the World Cup is to visit places you have not had the opportunity to go to. “I love traveling and if there is a trip to go somewhere to improve my knowledge of the world and culture, I am the first to say so.” Southgate is not blind to the social situation in Qatar. Away from that. Neither did his players, especially since they were introduced early last week. Midfielder Jordan Henderson described the content as “shocking” and “horrible”. Writing to the Guardian last Thursday on the issue of migrant workers who struggled to build World Cup stadiums and support infrastructure, Nicholas McGeehan – director of FairSquare Research and Projects – said there were “thousands of deaths of young men in the world.” significantly more than half of them unexplained. “To this can be added the millions of dollars in wage theft that have left workers and their families from some of the world’s poorest countries in debt and destitute.” The Qatari authorities can point to reforms and progress, including the abolition of the kafala system – or sponsorship – under which workers could not change jobs without their employer’s permission, and the introduction of a new minimum wage. However, Amnesty International’s Peter Frankental said: “The new laws apply only unreservedly and the fact remains that many migrant workers have suffered from chronic overwork in Qatar or their salaries have been withheld by rogue employers.” Jordan Henderson, pictured warming up during England’s recent friendly with Cλεte d’Ivoire, described the content of a recent presentation on the social situation in Qatar as “horrible”. Photo: Elli Birch / IPS / Shutterstock The LGBTQ + community, represented by an international team of 16 organizations, wrote to FIFA and the Supreme Organizing Committee of Qatar to submit eight requests. They included explicit security guarantees for World Cup participants from the community, a clear welcome, and freedom of expression on and off the field. The SC has not yet responded. His position is that everyone is welcome. How can Southgate and the other participants in this World Cup have the right tone? Knowing that they can still love it and not hold anything back on the pitch, as long as they do everything through their platforms to emphasize injustice and lead to change. England has designated the Souq Al Wakra Hotel and the Al-Wakrah Sports Club in southern Doha as their base of glory. Five minutes away from each other, the 101-room hotel returning to the beach is unpretentious, certainly compared to some of the luxury alternatives in the world’s richest country per capita. The Fiver: sign up and receive our daily football email. The training area, meanwhile, has a slightly older feel to it. It was founded in 1959 and the trophy case in the main building could come from any club in England. Not that the surface of the game looks anything less than virgin. Southgate is in it to win it. “What did we say to the team this week?” he said. “That if we can reach a semi-final, we can reach a final – which we did. And if we manage to reach a final, we can win. ” The path is about to be revealed.
