World Cup 2022 (Soccer)

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      Watching Qatar’s World Cup, Off the Field

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      DOHA, Qatar — If you’re watching the World Cup from home, you can become numb to the brilliance of athletic feats that drive the world’s fascination. But away from the stadiums, the World Cup — every World Cup — has a distinct local flavor. Far from the manicured lawns of the tournament’s eight gleaming stadiums, New York Times photographers documented the flavor of the first Arab World Cup.Erin Schaff/The New York TimesThe fans are the heartbeat of any World Cup. They come from all over the world, in varying numbers, but some countries — like Mexico, Argentina and, this year, Saudi Arabia — really represent. Flags and scarves and jerseys carry hope and optimism through the streets and the market, but it doesn’t always end well: Mexico is out, despite earning its first win, 2-1 against Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday night in Lusail.Tasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesWhere do all the million-plus fans go when they’re not filling the stadiums with their voices and drumbeats? Fan zones, like the ones in Doha and Lusail, offer gathering places filled with entertainment and spectacle.Erin Schaff/The New York TimesTasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesTasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesTasneem AlsultanDespite the variety of national loyalties, it’s not uncommon for rooting interests to blur into one: fans from Morocco joining forces with supporters from Saudi Arabia; Americans posing for photographs with Iranians; the colors of Brazil and England at either end of the same bench.Tasneem AlsultanErin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesThe Souq Waqif, Doha’s purposefully vintage marketplace, is one of the most popular destinations for World Cup visitors. The traditional market, rebuilt to look old, offers plenty of authentic dining options, but also shops selling clothes, spices, household goods and, if you’re in the market for one, falcons.Erin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesTasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesSoccer pervades every scene these days, from children dashing back and forth with a ball at their feet to adults in thobes showing off their skills on a patch of artificial turf.Erin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesAccommodations vary nearly as much as the people who stay in them. A cruise ship, docked along Doha’s waterfront, has been repurposed as a hotel for a month. Tents at the Al Khor fan village were being marketed as “Arabian camping”; you can book one, but it will set you back more than $400 a night. A more cost-sensitive option is one of the parks filled with rows of shipping containers closer to the action. Looming behind it all, in downtown Doha, are the highest-priced options. The Katara Towers in Lusail comprise two hotels. One is home to FIFA’s executive class for the duration of the World Cup.Erin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesErin Schaff/The New York TimesStepping away from the shine of Doha, there’s another side of Qatari life in Al Khor, the country’s second-biggest city but one removed from the World Cup’s hustle and bustle in Doha. More

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      It’s the World Cup’s Hot Accessory. But Should Fans Wear It?

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      Head scarves in the colors of the participating teams have become fan favorites in Qatar. Rather than object, locals say they like the twist on a traditional look.DOHA, Qatar — Jean Marc Berger left his home in Geneva to follow Switzerland’s adventures in the World Cup with perhaps the most neutral piece of headgear in existence. His protection against the blazing Gulf sun would extend no further than a red cap emblazoned with a white cross, a homage to the Swiss flag.By the time he arrived at Stadium 974 for his country’s second game, though, the cap was long gone. In its place, Berger, 52, had adopted a ghutra, the traditional head scarf worn by men across the Arabian Peninsula. His was red and white, a nod to his homeland. Holding it in place was an agal, the tightly bound black band around which the scarf is carefully folded.It had never occurred to Berger, before arriving in Qatar, that he would wear one. He had worried that doing so might be seen as offensive by his hosts, assumed that it might be seen as making light of Qatari culture, feared that it would transgress local sensitivities. “I did not think it would be possible,” he said.He did not, as it turns out, have any cause for concern. Ghutras in the distinctive colors of the 32 teams in the tournament have emerged as this World Cup’s must-have accessory among the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have arrived in Qatar to follow their teams. They are for sale in stalls in Souq Waqif, the rebuilt market in downtown Doha, and in immaculate stores in upscale malls. They are even stocked in some supermarkets.Mexico fans and others have embraced Arabian headgear.Tasneem Alsultan of The New York TimesThe truly dedicated can even go one step further, pairing the head scarf with a colored thobe, the flowing tunic that Arabian men mostly wear in white but which, it turns out, also comes in a lurid yellow and green (Brazil), fetching sky blue stripes (Argentina) and even the red, white and blue of the United States.“They are selling well,” said Ali, one of five founders of a pop-up store selling colored ghutras and thobes at locations in the city. “We are a little bit surprised by how well. All of the American countries — the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina — have showed up spectacularly.”A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Messi and Argentina Advance as Mexico Is Eliminated

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      DOHA, Qatar — It was an odd and unprecedented scene.After a 2-0 victory over Poland at Stadium 974 in Doha on Wednesday, Argentina and its top star, Lionel Messi, celebrated having won Group C and advanced to the knockout stage. But Poland was also exalting following its loss. Many of its players huddled on the field around a cellphone, and then cheered and hugged as well, a strange reaction following a defeat.A 30-minute drive away at Lusail Stadium, in the night’s other Group C game, Mexico had been leading Saudi Arabia, 2-0, with a handful of minutes still remaining in extra time. If that score held, Mexico would finish with 4 points, the same as Poland. But Mexico’s streak of advancing to the knockout stage in seven straight World Cups would end by virtue of losing the sixth — yes, the sixth — tiebreaker between it and Poland: each team’s number of yellow and red cards.But when Salem al-Dawsari scored in the fifth minute of added time — and with three minutes remaining in the game — the difference in yellows cards between Mexico and Poland became moot. Suddenly, Mexico had a worse goal differential than Poland and thus was losing the first tiebreaker. Watching on the screen, Poland’s players rejoiced. Then moments later, after the final whistle in Mexico’s 2-1 win, they celebrated their country’s first trip to the knockout stage since 1986.“Sometimes defeats are bittersweet, or sweet and bitter,” Poland Coach Czeslaw Michniewicz said through an interpreter. “But we went through, after many many years.”The drama of the knockout stage awaits — it begins on Saturday — but Wednesday provided a tension-filled teaser. Entering the day, the mission was clear for Argentina and Poland: win and advance. But both teams knew — as did Mexico — of the scenarios in which Mexico could catch one of the other teams in the standings. If Argentina beat Poland, Mexico needed to win — and score a lot of goals.A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Tunisia’s World Cup exit was a wild ride. Denmark’s was a frustrating one.

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      As World Cup drama goes, it was a remarkable couple of minutes. A last stand by Tunisia. A late goal by France. A lead lost. A result overturned. And then a video review, and it all flipped back in a moment.And none of it mattered.Tunisia went out of the World Cup on Wednesday in the strangest of circumstances: victors over France, 1-0, when a late French equalizer was disallowed 12 minutes into second-half injury time, but already eliminated a few minutes earlier by Australia’s 1-0 victory against Denmark.The results of those two games, played out simultaneously in stadiums only six miles apart, settled the standings in Group D: France (6 points) edged out Australia (6) on goal difference, and left Tunisia (4) and Denmark (1) packing their bags.Australia’s moment was a rare soccer success for its men’s team: The first time it has advanced to the knockout round since 2006, which was the only previous time it survived the group stage.Its goal came in a blur: Breaking out after a Denmark attack fizzled, Mathew Leckie took a pass near the center circle, swept around a Danish defender and sent a low shot past Denmark’s diving goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel.Denmark sent on one attacking option after another to chase the goals it needed to secure its way out of the group, but none of them worked. The World Cup will be remembered as a major failure for the Danes, who reached the semifinals in the 2020 European Championship but managed only a single point — from a dreary scoreless draw — through three games in Qatar.The World Cup will be remembered as a major failure for Denmark.Paul Ellis/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesTunisia, meanwhile, had briefly thought it had punched its ticket to the second round on Wahbi Khazri’s slaloming goal in the 58th minute. But before its fans had finished celebrating, Leckie scored for Australia, and only a goal by the Danes could save the Tunisians. It never came.Tunisia’s exit was confirmed when Australia’s game went final, and its disappointment was doubled minutes later when an Antoine Griezmann goal appeared to rob it of even the consolation prize of a final victory.But after a pause and a video review, Griezmann’s goal was disallowed because he had been offside in the buildup. Suddenly the Tunisians’ lead had been restored. Their fans, crushed moments earlier by the news of their team’s World Cup exit, burst into cheers at the news that they would at least go out a winner.It wasn’t what any of them would have wanted. But after a five-minute emotional journey in which they had been eliminated, robbed of a win and then handed it back, that prize felt like a moral victory. More

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      To Get the Best Perks at the World Cup, You Have to Be a V.V.I.P.

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      Every sports venue has its own tiered system of luxury. The World Cup in Qatar is providing a reminder that there is always a higher level.AL KHOR, Qatar — With its haughty aura of exclusivity, the red-carpeted, velvet-roped V.I.P. entrance at Al Bayt Stadium seems designed to inspire maximal awe and envy. As regular fans were herded through their gates at the England-United States game on Friday, the V.I.P. guests were welcomed by an exotic figure dressed as some sort of antelope, covered head to toe in shimmering golden squares.(When pressed on its identity, the figure, who was not supposed to speak, muttered under its breath: “Oryx.”)But this is the Qatar World Cup, where there is something even better than the V.I.P. entrance: the V.V.I.P. entrance.Not that it is available, or even fully visible, to you. Flanked by barriers and cut off from the normal road system, Al Bayt’s V.V.I.P. entrance is a sweeping thoroughfare on which the most important fans, starting with Qatar’s emir, who arrives by helicopter with his entourage and then hops into a Mercedes, are chauffeured directly into their special enclave in the stadium. That way, they are never required to interact with, or even occupy the same general space as, regular fans.Aat Al Thumama stadium, the most high-profile fans enter on a red carpet.Tasneem Alsultan for The New York TimesOn the way to Education City Stadium, drivers select a lane based on their V.I.P. status.Erin Schaff/The New York TimesEvery sports venue has its tiered system of luxury — the owner’s box, the business lounges, the special-access elevators, the ridiculously expensive seats, the even more ridiculously expensive seats. But at this year’s World Cup, the convergence of two entities awash in luxury and entitlement — Qatar, where all power and privilege flow from the emir, and FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, with its vast wealth and patronage network — provides a bracing reminder that there is always a more rarefied degree of exclusive.The main difference between the luxury and non-luxury seats at this year’s World Cup is alcohol. In a shock to fans (and to Budweiser, the official beer of the tournament since 1986), Qatar reversed itself and decreed just before the event began that the sale of alcoholic beer (indeed, alcohol of any kind) would be banned in and around the stadiums.A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      The U.S. Cleared a Big World Cup Hurdle. The Knockout Round Poses Another.

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      The U.S. victory over Iran sent it to the round of 16, with a match against the Netherlands on Saturday. But the team already has much to be proud of.DOHA, Qatar — Those last few minutes, the ones in which everything the United States has worked for was close enough to touch, seemed to stretch on and on into the night. The clock refused to tick. There was always another attack to repel, another ball to clear, another scare to survive.Eight years since it last played a knockout game at the World Cup, four years since it was forced to endure the stinging humiliation of watching the tournament from home, the country’s men’s team was on the brink of laying the ghosts to rest. It held a slender, single-goal lead against Iran, thanks to the self-sacrificing courage of Christian Pulisic. That was enough. All it had to do was hold on.Ever since that night five years ago in Couva, Trinidad, when it had all gone wrong, the question has been whether the United States has sufficiently gifted players to compete with the game’s superpowers. The relative ability of Pulisic, Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie is pored over, their every flaw prized open, their every strength judged and weighed.Those last few minutes, though, were not about talent. They were, instead, the most thorough examination imaginable of Gregg Berhalter’s team’s poise, and composure, and grit. They were a test of nerve. It is to their immense credit that they passed and now have a meeting with the Netherlands on Saturday in the next round.Victory was not comfortable, not at all. There were moments when their hearts rose up into their mouths, moments when their legs seemed heavy and their minds weary, moments when they had to fight off the siren call of blind panic. But then, it could not be any other way. It would not be a test if it were easy.The U.S. held a slender, single-goal lead against Iran, thanks to the self-sacrificing courage of Christian Pulisic.Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThis remains an intensely young team, one that has been designed at least in part with the next World Cup, four years away and (mostly) on home soil, in mind. That they weathered what is most likely the most stressful situation any of them have experienced is to their enormous credit.A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      The World Cup Continues for the US Will Christian Pulisic be Part of It?

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      DOHA, Qatar — The job for the United States soccer team was simple, really: Win.The stakes and the stage and the politics all made things harder going into their game against Iran on Tuesday night at the World Cup. The own goal by their federation’s social media team, the Iranians’ great umbrage at the perceived insult to their flag, the chatter and the threats and the intrigue all added to the spice of the matchup. But the task, at its heart, left no room for nuance at all: If United States wanted to keep playing in this tournament, it had to beat Iran. And so it did.NOTHING WAS STOPPING PULISIC FROM SCORING 😤Take another look at his first-ever FIFA World Cup goal for the @USMNT 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/s6tKehRLg2— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) November 29, 2022
      The price of victory may be a high one: Christian Pulisic, perhaps the Americans’ brightest star and the scorer of its only goal in a 1-0 victory, was forced from the game at halftime with an abdominal injury sustained when he crashed hard into Iran’s goalkeeper finishing his goal. He was taken to the hospital for scans, team officials said, and Coach Gregg Berhalter said he had appeared “in good spirits” in a celebratory video call with his teammates after the game.Pulisic’s status for the next round, a date with the Netherlands on Saturday, was unclear as the game ended. But that will be a question for tomorrow. The United States, thanks to its victory, now has one.It will be joined in the knockouts by England, a 3-0 winner over Wales on Tuesday in a different sort of political matchup in a taut group that wasn’t decided until the final whistle blew, and sent the Americans on, and the Iranians out.A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More

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      Senegal Responds Quickly to a Dramatic Goal to Reach Knockout Stage

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      Ecuador had just tied the game, and a draw would have eliminated Senegal from the World Cup. But Kalidou Koulibaly extended his country’s run.AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Senegal had been dominating all game, but it was in trouble in the 67th minute at Khalifa International Stadium on Tuesday night. Ecuador had just tied the game with a dramatic goal, and a draw would have eliminated Senegal from the World Cup.But even without its star scorer Sadio Mané, who has been out since before the 2022 World Cup with an injury, Senegal did not fear. In less than three minutes, it answered when its captain, Kalidou Koulibaly, knocked in a rebound from a free kick for the go-ahead goal in a 2-1 victory over Ecuador that sent Senegal to the knockout stage as the runner-up in Group A.“An amazing moment for me and the team,” said Koulibaly, 31.No African nation advanced to the round of 16 in the 2018 tournament. Senegal, the Africa Cup of Nations victor, is the first from the continent to do so in this tournament and perhaps not the last, with Morocco and Ghana in good position going into their third games.Senegal has now reached the knockout stage twice in three World Cup trips. On Sunday, it will play England, which won Group B after beating Wales, 3-0, on Tuesday night.“Millions of Senegalese were watching us, and we gave it our all,” midfielder Pape Gueye said in French, adding that the victory was “historic.”A Brief Guide to the 2022 World CupCard 1 of 9What is the World Cup? More