"Qatar finally scored" still failed to stop "Qatar was out early".
On the evening of the 25th Beijing time, the second round of the group stage of Group A of the Qatar World Cup was played, and the host lost to Senegal 1:3. Three hours later, the Netherlands drew 1-1 with Ecuador. With only one round left in the group stage, Qatar "withdrew from the group chat" early and became the first team to be confirmed to qualify from the group in this World Cup. At the same time, they are also the hosts of the fastest exit in the history of the World Cup.
For Qatar, which is not ranked high in the world, the early elimination is not surprising, after all, each team will do everything in their power to compete for the Hercules Cup. But as hosts, Qataris did invest heavily in this green extravaganza. Now that he is out of the game, it is inevitably distressing.
It was really beaten in the field
So far, Qatar has scored two records in this World Cup: the host who lost the first opening match; Scored the team's first goal in World Cup history.
In its World Cup debut, Qatar lost 2-0 to Ecuador, breaking the rule of unbeaten in the World Cup opener. In that game, Qatar failed to contribute to the attack of the goal on target, and also fell in the upper hand in terms of possession and pass success rate. After the match, many fans once again placed the title of "the weakest host of the World Cup" on the Qataris. If you look at the performance of the game, this sentence does make sense.
Image source: Screenshot of FIFA website. The left column contains Qatar team data.
Qatar scored its first World Cup goal in this morning's game against Senegal as substitute centre-forward Montari scored with a header in the 77th minute.
Despite the less than satisfactory results, Qatar, with zero World Cup experience, left its mark.
Off-site really costs money
At the end of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, host Qatar announced that they would bid to host the World Cup. Supported by strong economic strength, the country with a population of less than 3 million successfully won the right to host the 2022 World Cup.
Many people say this is the "most expensive" World Cup, because according to statistics, Qatar has spent more than $220 billion on various preparations.
For World Series hosts, stadiums and infrastructure are often where the biggest expenses are. Many people will ask, where is Qatar spending its money?
More than 20 years ago, Luceral was a small village on the east coast of Qatar. Today, the Lucerle Stadium, the venue for this World Cup final, is located here. In order to bring more convenience to the fans, the nearby docks, hotels, business areas and other infrastructure are available.
The host country built seven new stadiums and renovated one existing stadium at a cost of US$6.5 billion. The rest of the spending is mainly on transportation, hotels, telecommunications and security infrastructure.
Although the Qatar World Cup is held in the northern hemisphere winter, the temperature in the Gulf region can still reach 25°C-30°C. In order to provide a more comfortable environment for athletes and fans to play and watch games, Qatar has installed an unprecedented cooling system in the stadium.
From the preparation of the tournament, the construction of the stadium to the layout of supporting infrastructure, some voices believe that Qatar has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build a football city, which seems to be an exaggeration.
What is the level of football in Qatar?
After the host was out early, some fans ridiculed: Qatari football, at this level?
Before 2000, Qatar did play the role of "sending children to the score" in all Asian competitions. After exiting the group stage of the 2004 Asian Cup, they were determined to reform. The "Football Dream Project" was born, and the world-renowned Aspire Sports Academy was also established.
According to media reports, between 2007 and 2014, the Aspire Sports Academy surveyed 3.5 million young people from different countries and regions, and Qataris are obsessed with finding future hopes.
At the same time, Qatar began to search for football talent around the world, and Qatari coach Alexis Sanchez, who now leads the World Cup, arrived in Asbeir from the Barça echelon in 2006. With the advanced concept of La Masia's youth training, Sanchez has successively become Qatar U19, U20 and U23 coaches.
In addition to the introduction, Qatar began to send outstanding young players to Europe for further study, which also provided great help for the growth of the players.
The effort pays off. At the 2014 U19 Asian Youth Championships, the Qatar national youth team, composed of all players from the Aspeer Sports Academy, won the championship. At the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE, Qatar reached the top of Asia for the first time. In the final, they defeated Japan, which has many players in Europe, 3:1.
Today, Qatar is ranked 50th in the world and 5th in Asia. Five years ago, they were outside the top 100 in the world.
So far, Qatar has not been able to claim its first World Cup points in the team's history. After qualifying from the group, they will welcome the final match of this cup at 23:00 Beijing time on the 29th, against the world powerhouse Netherlands.
Image source: screenshot of netizen comment
Image source: screenshot of netizen comment
Is Qatar really just "losing money"? As a fan, do you think Qatar made or lost money by hosting this World Cup?
Column editor-in-chief: Gu Wanquan Text editor: Fang Ying Title picture source: Xinhua News Agency Photo editor: Zhu Jun
Source: Author: China News Network