World Cup
Friends talk about how much their country has replaced as they watch their home team, Qatar, face Ecuador.
Al-Rayyan, Qatar – An organization of friends and family gather in the majlis in a building just steps from his home in Al-Rayyan, just west of Doha.
It’s a culture that’s been around for years and is part of life here in Qatar. A majlis is an area in a separate area or building that is used for all kinds of gatherings, from idleness to larger events.
But now, with the World Cup in the city, he has taken on another theme: a party to watch football.
The participants, mostly middle-aged and older, were there to watch Sunday’s 2022 World Cup opener between Qatar and Ecuador.
In Qatar, they have been waiting for this moment for years. Across the country, in majalis like this, Qataris have tuned in to see themselves on the world stage.
It’s not like everyone is there for the game.
“Honestly, I don’t like football,” said Nasser Al Thani, who is here most of the time. “Everyone is here for the game, but I’m here for the opening ceremony. “
The opening ceremony, with its presentation of Qatar’s history, took visitors back to childhood. One moment, in particular, recalled them when a video was shown of Qatar’s former emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, betting on football in the desert in what visitors believed it was in the early 1970s. .
“We used to play in the arena like that,” said Nasser Al Thani, the majlis’ guest. “Barefoot, feet bleed. When I see those old photos, they remind me of the smart old days. People were friendlier.
Al Thani and the other visitors recalled their desert travels in their youth.
One of them, Mubarak al-Naeemi, played for the Qatari football groups Al-Rayyan and Al-Gharafa in the 1980s. Said one of his teammates at the time Hassan Afif, the father of existing Qatari star Akram Afif.
“I would play on the left wing; I’m good, but Hassan can send the ball to anyone, anywhere on the field,” al-Naeemi told Al Jazeera.
Qatar conceded an early goal, the tone of the match.
So, instead of wasting time paying too much attention to the poor functionality of the Qataris, the visitors of the majlis rethought the changes they have noticed in the more than 20 years in Qatar, especially since the World Cup awarded to the Gulf. country in 2010.
It is well known that Doha has since replaced. But listening to visitors here, who have noticed this change, it is transparent how radically other things are.
“Look at those subway stations,” said one of the guests, Sultan Johar. “Four floors underground. It’s amazing. We took away the World Cup, but even if we hadn’t, the adjustments would have been enough. When you get off at the stop, you see something new.
Al Thani says the upgrade has overwhelmed infrastructure and spread to the population.
“Let’s be honest, before we didn’t have a strong sense of nationalism or national identity,” Al Thani said. “The World Cup, this project, helped build that. Now you even listen to the other Arabs who grew up here, they speak with a Qatari accent. They began to feel this pride of living in Qatar.
But that doesn’t mean this organization welcomes all changes.
They recalled that the Qatar of their formative years and adolescence was less developed, but that other people were more physically powerful and may be alone.
And not only that, cooler weather and rains still scarce but heavier than today, they said.
Now, as many World Cup visitors have discovered, temperatures are higher than before.
“It’s climate change and we’re worried about the future,” Johar said. “We never understood things like conservation or environmental protection. Now we go to the desert and collect the garbage. the trees have disappeared in some spaces due to lack of rain. And the animals we used to hunt, you have to go into the desert to locate them now.
On TV, Qatar conceded a moment, then showed little in the middle of the moment, the adjustment ended 2-0 for Ecuador.
Most of the visitors to the majlis had left long before the games were over, and the jokes were already reaching everyone’s phones, sympathetic to the loss.
At the end of the day, the result is not too important for visitors here, but the symbolism of the arrival of such an important event at their doorArrayAnd yet, once this tournament is over, the majlis will continue, and those friends will continue to gather, wondering how much they will see their country replace in the coming years.