Qatar 2022 Archives

FIFA World Cup: Croatia, Morocco share points in goalless Group F draw

DOHA: Aggressive Moroccan side held the 2018 FIFA World Cup runner-ups struggling for a breakthrough, as the opening Group F fixture ended in a goalless draw, the third in less than 24 hours, here at Al-Bayt Stadium on Thursday.

The see-saw battle between the two sides witnessed an enthralling display of defence as there were only attempts on target, two by each team but no strike.

Morocco proved to be an enormous challenge for Luka Modric’s side as they lost just two games of their last 41 games in three years while Croatia extended their own unbeaten run to seven after this match.

The only opportunity to take a lead for Morocco arose in the 51st minute when Soufiane Boufal’s long-range shot was blocked by Dejan Lovren.

Modric and Ivan Perisic also came close to netting the ball in the first half but send their efforts to the crossbar.

With the draw in the first game, Belgium and Canada now have a chance to take lead in Group F as they face each other later today.

Croatia will next play Canada on Sunday while Croatia will take on Belgium earlier on the same day.

FIFA WC: Germany’s Leroy Sane ruled out of Japan clash with knee injury

DOHA: Leroy Sane has been ruled out of Germany’s opening game against Japan in the FIFA World Cup 2022 as the winger sustained a knee injury in training.

Taking to Twitter, the German Football Association (DFB) on Tuesday confirmed the Bayern Munich forward’s unavailability for Wednesday’s Group E clash.

“The 26-year-old offensive player from champions FC Bayern Munich is unavailable against the four-time Asian champions due to knee problems. The remaining 25 players of the German World Cup squad took part in the final training session in Al-Shamal.” read the statement issued by DFB.

“After lunch, the four-time world champions’ squad head to Qatar’s capital, Doha, where captain Manuel Neuer and company will spend the night before the opening game,” it added.

With ten goals and six assists in 19 games, he played for Bayern across all competitions this season, Sane, 25, looked in top form as he entered Qatar to strengthen Germany’s chances to lift the trophy.

The former Manchester City winger has been a regular feature of the German team since making his debut in 2015. He appeared in 45 games for his national side, scoring 11 goals.

Germany will take on Spain and Costa Rica, respectively, in Group E after Japan clash.

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Messi skips World Cup training session as Argentina fear injuries

DOHA: Lionel Messi, along with six other Argentina players, missed the first training session in Qatar on Friday, just four days ahead of their FIFA World Cup opener against Saudi Arabia in Group C.

The biggest sporting event of the year is set to kick off tomorrow (Sunday) with host Qatar taking on Ecuador in the opening game after a grand opening ceremony.

Messi, regarded as one of the finest footballers in the world, enters the competition with the optimism to fill the only missing pearl in an otherwise successful sporting career and take Argentina to its first World Cup victory after 36 years.

On Friday, around 400 reporters gathered at Qatar University, where Argentina were holding their opening training session, to catch a glimpse of the 35-year-old star footballer. Yet they returned dejected when he didn’t appear.

Argentine outlet Ole reported that the Paris Saint-Germain star spent the start of Friday’s training session in the gym as part of a ‘special’ programme designed for him to prevent any risk of injury before the megaevent.

Messi was joined by midfielders Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes, defender Nicolas Otamendi and forward Angel di Maria in separate training from the rest of the team.

Earlier, two Argentinian players Joaquin Correa and Nicolas Gonzalez were sent home due to injuries ahead of the team’s debut, with Angel Correa and Thiago Almada named as their replacements.

Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has the lost shot to win the biggest glory for his national side since he had already announced that Qatar would be his last World Cup.

READ: FIFA guarantees more accurate offside decisions in Qatar World Cup

FIFA guarantees more accurate offside decisions in Qatar World Cup

DOHA: FIFA’s latest technology developed over the last three years would help make more precise and quicker VAR offside judgements in the Qatar World Cup, affirmed referees chief Pierluigi Collina on Friday.

The “semi-automatic offside technology” will decide on even the trickiest offside rulings faster than the previous method. A 3D animated rendering of the action will also be shown live to fans in the stadium and on television during the showpiece event starting tomorrow.

“(It) gives us the possibility to be faster and more accurate in terms of decisions about offside,” said Collina, chairman of FIFA’s referees committee.

“Just to be clear, being faster does not mean we will have instantaneous assessment of offside. It will be less than now, certainly, but we cannot have an answer one-second, or basically live.” he added.

The referees head, however, underlined that the final decision always belongs to the match official – on the VAR, the video assistant referee, on the field of play, to the referee.

The innovative system tracks the ball with 12 dedicated tracking cameras that are positioned underneath the stadium’s roof and calculate the precise position of each player on the field using up to 29 data points, 50 times per second.

The optical tracking technology was put to the test at the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, as well as at the Arab Cup in Qatar in last December.

“It’s the most accurate supporting offside tool at the moment.” said FIFA’s director of technology and innovation, Johannes Holzmueller. “We analysed the data and the outcome was very positive.”

Collina added that his team held two workshops for all 32 team coaches and visited each side’s camps to bring clarity among the players about the technology.

Referees at the World Cup had been advised to issue red cards for anything that could harm another player’s health, including elbows to the face, studs-up tackles, and dangerously high feet.

“Here are the best players in the world,” stated Collina. “It would be a shame if some of these players would be unable to play because of an injury caused by an opponent.

“So the first message we went through was to protect the safety of the players. Something that may endanger the safety of an opponent, players and coaches should expect… a red card.”

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Messi, Argentina land in Qatar after 5-0 World Cup warm-up win

DOHA: Argentina and superstar Lionel Messi arrived in Qatar for the World Cup early on Thursday, just hours after a 5-0 warm-up victory, while defending champions France have also touched down in Doha.

Messi, 35, has a sackful of trophies but the tournament in Qatar is likely to be his final chance to equal the achievement of fellow Argentine great Diego Maradona in leading his country to World Cup glory.

He landed with the Argentina squad in the Qatari capital Doha at 2:30am (2330 GMT, Wednesday) from Abu Dhabi where they had beaten the United Arab Emirates 5-0 Wednesday in a friendly in which Messi scored.

One of the favourites going into this year’s World Cup, the South Americans will begin their campaign on Tuesday against Saudi Arabia in Group C, which also includes Mexico and Poland.

The 1978 and 1986 World Cup winners extended their unbeaten run to 36 matches as Messi scored his 91st international goal.

Messi was cautious about the team’s chances in Qatar, even though they are among the favourites.

“We have a very nice group that is very eager, but we think about going little by little. We know that World Cup groups are not easy,” the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner said in an interview with CONMEBOL, the South American football federation.

France arrived in Doha on Wednesday, seeking to become the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962.

Ten members of the 2018 title-winning squad are in the squad, including captain Hugo Lloris, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.

But the defending champions, grouped with Australia, Denmark and Tunisia, are without first-choice midfield pair Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante.

Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, who has missed a series of games for Real Madrid this season because of injury, is set for his first World Cup appearance since 2014.

The United States return to football’s top table after an eight-year absence and Christian Pulisic says this World Cup is an opportunity to change global perceptions of American soccer.

“That’s what we’re here to do,” Pulisic told AFP. “Maybe it hasn’t been the top sport or whatever back in the States.

“But we want to change the way that the world sees American soccer. That’s one of our goals.”

The build-up to the tournament in Qatar has been dominated by concerns over Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ community.

Pleas from football’s world governing body FIFA for a switch of focus to football have gone unheeded by some countries.

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said on Wednesday supporters boycotting the tournament were “right to do that” but hoped his team would do enough to persuade fans at home to follow them from afar.

“I hope that we play so fantastic that at the end of the tournament when we play the final they shall look on television and see how good we are.”

The veteran coach hit out at FIFA earlier this year, calling its decision to award Qatar the World Cup “ridiculous”.

“I think you have to play in football countries. (They have) more experience with everything,” he said on Wednesday.

England supporters from India outnumbered fans from England nearly 10 to one as Gareth Southgate’s team rolled into their World Cup base on Tuesday.

The supporters said they were angered by reports in the British and French media that they were “fake fans”.

Sajidh, 29, said Indian football fans in Qatar had been “outraged” by reports suggesting they had been paid to wear the shirts of World Cup nations.

“It is purely fake news and I would like to say loud and clear that none of us have been paid in any way,” added Sajidh, who gave only one name.

“We are diehard England fans.”

World Cup organisers weighed in on the issue on Wednesday, saying supporters from across the world had contributed to the local atmosphere.

“Numerous journalists and commentators on social media have questioned whether these are ‘real’ fans,” they said in a statement.

“We thoroughly reject these assertions, which are both disappointing and unsurprising.”

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Shakira backs out of FIFA WC opening ceremony due to personal reasons

KARACHI: Shakira has stepped back from performing at the glittering opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar due to personal reasons.

With the biggest football event of the year just around the corner, the famous ‘Waka Waka’ singer has changed her mind and decided to withdraw her name from the list of performers at Sunday’s opening ceremony, reported Spain’s Marca Magazine.

According to Marca, the claim about the Columbian singer’s purported withdrawal from the opening ceremony was made on the show El programa de Ana Rosa.

“It’s been confirmed to me that Shakira will not perform at the opening ceremony, but they won’t say if she will have another role throughout the World Cup,” said Adriana Dorronsoro quoted Spanish news outlet.

The report further added that Sandra Aladro, another contributor to the Telecinco program, also confirmed the development after speaking to Shakira’s entourage.

“They have confirmed that she won’t be performing,” Aladro said. “She was going to be a guest performer, now she will have to send a statement to explain everything.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the colourful opening ceremony of the magaevent will take place on November 20, ahead of the opening Group A match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador.

Shakira set the stage alight with her mythical ‘Waka Waka’ song in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and ever since she has been ruling football fans’ hearts all around the globe.

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First World Cup ticket touts detained in Qatar

DOHA: Qatar announced its first arrests of World Cup ticket touts on Monday, with three foreign men detained outside official ticketing centres in Doha.

Six days from the start of the tournament, the interior ministry said “three people of different nationalities” were arrested and now face criminal proceedings.

The ministry released a statement on Twitter but did not specify the nationalities of those arrested, only stating the men were caught “reselling tickets” outside “official outlets”.

Queues form daily outside FIFA’s main ticketing centre in central Doha, with people hoping to purchase sought-after match tickets.

The statement said those arrested could face fines of up to 250,000 riyals ($68,000) for each ticket they were found to have sold.

FIFA and the Qatari government repeatedly warn about fake World Cup merchandise.

Last week, authorities reported the seizure of 144 counterfeit World Cup trophies.

Previously, car number plates illegally using World Cup imagery and counterfeit clothes using official logos have been targeted by authorities.

Last year a factory producing perfume bottles with World Cup branding was raided.

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Messi says 2022 World Cup will ‘surely’ be his last

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina captain Lionel Messi on Thursday said that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will “surely” be the last of his career.

“It’s my last World Cup, surely. I feel good physically, I was able to do a very good pre-season this year, which I couldn’t do last year. It was essential to get to where I am, with a good state of mind and a lot of hope,” the 35-year-old told ESPN Argentina.

Messi, who is due to appear in his fifth World Cup, made his international debut in 2005 and has since won 164 caps for Argentina and is the country’s all-time record scorer with 90 goals.

In the interview, which took place in Paris where Messi plays for Paris Saint-Germain, he admitted he was nervous about the impending tournament.

“There is anxiety, nerves about the World Cup,” he said. “We can’t wait for it to start.”

Messi’s international debut as a substitute against Hungary in 2005 lasted just two minutes before he was sent off but he quicky established himself in the national team set-up and travelled to Germany for his first World Cup in 2006.

He went on to play in the 2010 edition in South Africa, 2014 in Brazil, where Argentina reached the final, and 2018 in Russia.

The current side, under the management of Lionel Scaloni, have now gone 35 games without defeat and are likely to figure among the pre-tournament favourites for the tournament.

“We have reached a good moment, with a very well-equipped and very strong group, but anything can happen,” said Messi.

“All the games are very difficult. The favourites are not always the ones who end up winning or taking the path that one expected.

“Argentina is always a candidate because of its history and what it means. But we are not the only favourites, there are other teams that are above us.”

Argentina get their bid for a third World Cup title, and first since 1986, underway on November 22 against Saudi Arabia in Lusail, before further Group C matches against Mexico and Poland.

Messi has often struggled to emulate Argentine icon Diego Maradona on the biggest international stage, although was surprisingly named player of the tournament after his team lost the 2014 final to Germany.

He only scored once four years ago in Russia as Argentina bowed out with a 4-3 defeat by eventual champions France in the last 16, following a humiliating 3-0 thumping by Croatia in the group stage.

But hopes are high that the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner could bow out from World Cups with glory in the Middle East.

Messi won the best player award as he led Argentina to last year’s Copa America crown — beating arch rivals Brazil in the final — to win their first major tournament title in 28 years.

Qatar will likely provide the last chance for Messi and his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, to finally lift the World Cup.

“I am going to have to reassess a lot of things after the World Cup, whether it goes well for us or not,” Messi admitted in March.

“I hope it goes well, but a lot of things are definitely going to change.”

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