Well, here: Budweiser bar at the FIFA fan festival in Doha
Thursday, 11 a.m., Switzerland – Cameroon
Thursday, 8 p.m., Brazil – Serbia
It’s agony. Not the World Cup itself. Which too – some may have heard of certain customs of the Qatari rulers in association with the World Football Association, which we (which by no means abstractly mean the German) don’t like it that much. More painful is the urge to exhaust the abundance of idioms that arise in connection with a World Cup being held in a desert for the first time.
Send to the desert – the first day of the group stage requires contortions and a meek readership. Well, banning Russia not for sporting reasons, but for reasons of power politics as a result of its Ukraine campaign, for example. That was different in 2018. Like so many things. The World Cup took place in the summer months – at least from the perspective of people from the northern hemisphere. Russia was represented with its Sbornaja and even hosted. Today unthinkable. And there was beer.
What was no different in 2018: Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland played in a group with Putin – in the end with the better outcome for the record world champion and the Alpenkicker. In Qatar, the South Americans meet Serbia on the first day of the game. The roles are clearly distributed. The Seleção doesn’t show any weaknesses, has chances like sand in the desert. The Serbs still don’t stick their heads in them, delivering a physical defensive battle. Vain. The fact that their qualities are generally located in the offensive, after even Portugal could be kept at a distance in the qualification, is initially nothing to see in the desert. But there are still two games left.
And the Confederates? Although they left Italy behind in qualifying and ensured that the reigning European champions are missing in Qatar. Nevertheless, a sure-fire success is not to be expected, as the dress rehearsal against Ghana a week before the start of the festival of human rights violations showed. The Nati – there are not many nicknames for football teams that are more unpleasant – lost by two goals difference. There was desert sand in the gearbox, as Yann Sommer, number one in Schwyz, knew. However, the Gladbacher had an explanation ready, noticed a “certain tiredness” among his colleagues, “the heat also played a role”. The Swiss opponents Cameroon should cope better with the temperatures in Qatar. Which also gives the “irresistible lions”, who are unanimously ridiculed as “crass outsiders”, a boost. The Alpenkicker almost get under the wheels at the third of the Africa Cup. Game ticked off, dry as desert sand. The highlight comes anyway on the last day of the group stage when Switzerland meets Serbia.
It should be noted that Brazil are favorites in Qatar. As always, stammers Jürgen Klinsmann, who considers “the South Americans” – i.e. Argentina as well as the Seleção – “most suitable for this World Cup”. The defeat of the gauchos against the Saudis on Tuesday shows that winning a world and a European championship does not necessarily speak for expertise. However, Klinsi was not wrong in previous years. The best evidence: his past as a Blauer with the Kickers. He was already lacing his professional boots in Degerloch at the age of 16. Expertise and taste were still there at the time. Incidentally, despite the desert World Cup, the Waldau will continue to be played. On Saturday, for example, in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg, Kickers against Bietigheim-Bissingen. An alternative for boycotters, beer included.
