DOHA: World Cup finals bring an outpouring of national pride for competing teams, a moment of national celebration. France and Argentina were celebrating already and then Qatar celebrated on Sunday as it closed a near month-long festival of football that took place for the first time in the Arab world.

The final had coincided with Qatar’s National Day and festivities had begun around the Lusail Stadium, the showpiece stadium of the World Cup in the futuristic city built as an extension to Doha.

The World Cup had been under a cloud for a myriad of issues but over the month, Qatar had proven to be spectacular hosts, its infrastructure and facilities coping with the challenge that a congested tournament, held away from its usual June-July slot due to the intense summer heat in the Middle East, brought.

On Sunday, however, the choice of holding National Day celebrations together with the World Cup backfired spectacularly. The roads saw long jams of traffic and there was severe overcrowding at the metro station linking Lusail to Central Doha. Ahead of the closing ceremony, due to begin an hour and 15 minutes ahead of the final, there was a spectacular airshow at the Lusail boulevard.

Yet, the time it took for the fans to get into the stadium meant that the closing ceremony, “a 15-minute celebration of the world coming together in Qatar” according to FIFA, opened to empty stands.

There were fireworks and spectacular choreography as dancers and performers spread across the pitch to the mashup of songs from the World Cup soundtrack. The stadium got full only after the closing ceremony had ended; the loudest cheers of the night only coming later when the stadium anno­uncer stated the names of the starting XI for both teams — the loudest coming for two players who were expected to light up the final: France’s Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi of Argentina.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2022