Qatar 2022: the most exotic and expensive World Cup in history begins and now the ball passes to the floor

The most exotic World Cup in history. The first to be played in an Arab country, with no history or football attendance, controversial since his election and multiple denunciations, the more expensive also (An estimated $200,000 million was spent)but real. More real than ever because the ball is starting to roll and will roll with intensity for 64 games.

A country that undertakes to show another image to the world, which seems more interested in multiplying them 3.572 million people who watched Russia 2018 on television rather than getting excited about the 14,468 million dollars that the previous World Cups have contributed to the local economy.

A city, Doha (all eight stadiums are within a radius of 55 kilometres), full of cars, highways, many more immigrants than natives (just 10 percent of the three million inhabitants), where everything seems about to be released (to be recycled) and waiting for a flood of tourists (the figures differ, but at least 1.4 million are expected ). A city that will finally start talking about football again and looking for answers.

Will it be Messi’s World Cup at last? Can the European hegemony that has lasted for 20 years and four different champions be broken? Can a champion repeat 60 years later?

A World Cup that has candidates (Brazil, France, Argentina), but cannot guarantee who will be the champion. A World Cup that promises numbers (Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, Cristiano?) and promises (Pedri and Gavi, from Spain, Julián Álvarez, among many) and which cannot provide security even in those areas.

But there are things we already know. Like Lionel Scaloni, a pilot coming from outside the Argentine illusion, at 44 he will be the youngest coach of the 32 who are in Qatar. At the other extreme is Louis van Gaal, 71, still, as in 2014, in command of the Netherlands.

Scaloni is one of the three coaches that our country contributes. Another is Gustavo Alfaro, who will make his debut for Ecuador this Sunday against local Qatar, a team that has an obligation to be competitive. Gerardo Martino completes the standings, who leads Mexico, the second rival of the national team.

There are nine foreign coaches, with a predominance of Argentines, Spaniards (Luis Enrique on his own, plus Roberto Martínez with Belgium and Félix Sánchez Bas locally), Portuguese (Fernando Santos, plus Carlos Queiroz with Iran and Paulo Bento in Korea ) and French (Didier Deschamps, Herve Renard with Saudi Arabia and Walid Regragui, nationalized in Morocco and at the helm of that team).

We will have to wait for Tuesday to see Argentina’s debut. The national team comes from the beating in Russia (goodbye to the round of 16, 16th at the final table) but with an evident internal reconstruction that bodes well.

It seems inevitable to think of it as Messi’s World Cup. Because it is logical to believe that at 35 he will play bottom and because he arrives as excited as the fans. And it will be his fifth World Cup, reaching the finish line of Lothar Matthäus, Rafael Márquez, Gianluigi Buffon and Antonio Carbajal.

This is one of the goals Leo can achieve in Qatar, even if his goal is more collective than individual. With 19 games played, he is just two points behind Diego Maradona, the Argentine with the most World Cup appearances. If the planets align, he could surpass Matthäus’ 25-game super mark.

Without a stellar performance, Messi could overtake Gabriel Batistuta, top scorer with 10 goals. He has six, he needs four to reach him.

It will also be the fifth World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo, at the age of 37. Space for Neymar and the Uruguayans Luis Suárez, Edinson Cavani, Diego Godín and Fernando Muslera, for the German Thomas Müller. And Angelo DiMaria. The second of the French Kylian Mbappé and the Polish Robert Lewandowski, who hopes to make his debut in the net, given that he did not convert in 2018.

In Qatar there will also be a new chapter in the brand war, in which Nike prevails this time with 13 shirts against Adidas’ 7. The first time the North American brand overtook the German was in 2014, with a score of 10 to 9. In Russia in 2018 Adidas overturned with a score of 12 to 10. The third, as in the last World Cup, is still Puma , which has six teams and has doubled its number since 2018.

The boots are private contracts of the footballers. Messi wears Adidas; Cristiano and Mbappé, Nike; Neymar, Puma.

The VAR will be present and the technological novelty will be the semi-automatic offside detection system, which will speed up the times, but be careful: the referee will make the decision.

What World Cup will we see?

Despite playing in November, with the seasons of the major leagues just starting and with the best players without the burden of 60 games, the busy schedule has undermined the imagined draw and generated a state of panic due to injuries, which have already left players out of the big appointment and those that can take place – the last big defeat was that of Karim Benzema -. The heat is also the protagonist, the off-season 35 degrees refuse to retire, even if another novelty of this Cup is that the stadiums will have air conditioning. Will it reach?

All this can weigh negatively, but sometimes hope prevails over experience and we get excited about a World Cup to enjoy.

With Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, new faces popping up, powerful teams, possible surprises (Serbia, Denmark, Ghana?).

However, and in line with Scaloni’s statements, we can also expect a World Cup with poor teams, which the national coach has defined as “cautious” or “intelligent”. In short, as France was in 2018. A champion without good ball possession records (39% in the final against Croatia, won 4-2, and less than 50% on average) but strong in the opponent’s goal. Without shyness to play on the counterattack and in space, where Mbappé is lethal.

Another piece of information provided by Russia is that 43% of goals came from set pieces. These are two trends that seem to be establishing themselves. We’ll have to wait a bit.

Qatar has the last word.

Doha, Qatar. Special delivery.