The noise, the anticipation and the excitement was in full flow as the Qatar National Team walked onto the Al Bayt Stadium pitch to take on Ecuador and officially commence the first ever FIFA World Cup to take place in the Middle East and prove that the country is ready to host and organize it.
It wasn’t only the first World Cup to take place in the region, but also the first to be held in November, as many club competitions had to pause for a month while players represented their countries on the big stage. Fans from all corners of the world ensured their plans worked around the games as they aimed to either make the trip to Qatar, sit in front of their TV’s, or head to a local place showing the games as they gather with friends and family to take in what proved to be a historic experience.
Brazil, one of the competition’s biggest favorites to go all the way, found themselves out of the competition to Croatia which added to the upsets that included Saudi Arabia beating the eventual champions Argentina 2-1 and Germany being knocked out of the competition during the group stages.
Morocco, a team which included some high profile names was also a team that many didn’t take too seriously. However, they exceeded all possible expectations as they ended the competition in fourth place and beat Spain and Portugal en route to the third-place playoff where they lost to Croatia but left the country with people celebrating their success and having some of their players mentioned in some top teams worldwide such as Sofyan Amrabat and Azzedine Ounahi.
If having the World Cup in the Middle East wasn’t enough of a fairytale in itself, the ending proved to be a fairytale for Argentina and in particular Lionel Messi who finally ‘completed football’ after getting his hands on the trophy at the end of an absolutely exceptional run in the tournament where he managed to roll back the years and show the world just how much this all means to him. Argentina knocked out Australia, Netherlands and Croatia before taking on France in the final where they eventually were able to grind out the victory through a penalty shootout.
In the build-up to the tournament, Qatar focused on creating an experience that will be a benchmark for the future and ignored all the outside noise. Show them our capabilities and all doubts will be put at ease, that’s what their focus was and it’s what they did to perfection. It’s difficult to host such a massive worldwide competition, and it’s even more of a challenge when it’s held in practically one city. Previous editions saw the World Cup hosted in two neighboring countries and across multiple cities and even then, there was trouble when it came to finding places for visitors to travel around efficiently. But Qatar defied expectations by keeping their heads down and focusing on what they can control: The experience. What outsiders say cannot be controlled. However, what happens in the country with regards to fans and players having an unforgettable month can be.
The Hamad International Airport in Doha, also named the best airport in the world by SKYTRAX World Airport Awards, was ready and able to host the vast amount of people coming in to take part in the event. At no point were there any issues in regards to delays in the airport or problems with fans arriving or departing.
If there was any time for Lionel Messi to have his fairytale on the big stage, this was it. It seemed like everything was perfectly scripted for this competition to be remembered as one of the best World Cups to ever take place. It will be spoken about for years to come and Qatar has officially gone down as the first Middle Eastern country to successfully hold the FIFA World Cup.
