Key events
Say cheese
World Cup briefing: day one
Throughout the tournament, we’ll have a World Cup briefing every morning. The first has been lovingly penned by Gregg Bakowski.
Some news from the USA camp
The US play Wales tomorrow in a mouthwatering match that might ultimately decide whether they reach the last 16. Or it might not.
The first email of the tournament comes from Ian Copestake
“I started a very long email (Infantino length!) as this event brings up so many thoughts, memories, issues. But ‘at the end of the day’ I just want to say I am here for you, bro’! So glad to have you on board even if it is the Titanic!.
Who will win the World Cup (apart from Joe Lycett)?
Brazil and Argentina are the popular choices, though it’s not entirely beyond the realms that Brazil – like the 2018 favourites, Germany – could go out in the first round. I think Spain are the best European team in the tournament, but they have a stinker of a group and could also end up on flight DO1 from Doha before the knockout stage begins.
In short, it’s a William Goldman World Cup: nobody knows anything. Just the way it should be.
(Since you asked, I have Mexico in the sweepstake, which at least adds a bit of certainty to my life.)
Today’s match will be played at the spectacular Al Bayt Stadium. You can read all about it – the good, the bad and unforgivable – here.
Team guides
We have an interactive guide to every team, and indeed every player. Let’s start with the hosts, a side who… well, nobody really knows.
Ecuador have gone under the radar – they live under the radar – but could ruin a few wallcharts that have been prematurely filled in. To borrow from Barry Davies, when will we learn that major tournaments never pan out as expected. (In 2018, for example, Germany were supposed to play England in the quarter-finals. Didn’t happen.)
Anyway, Ecuador. Read all about them.
Get your questions in for Football Daily
Best laid plans department
Gridlock outside Al Bayt stadium before Qatar v Ecuador. Our taxi moved 400m in about 40 minutes before bailing. And this is was around four hours before kick off. Lots of hooting cars and anger pic.twitter.com/UxOOIB8LCr
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) November 20, 2022
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the greatest sham on earth. Qatar 2022: the tournament that puts the ‘vile’ in ‘violation’. It’s a despicable farce – part sinister power trip, part Chris Morris satire – and comes with a human cost that is acceptable only to those with a disease of the mind. But it’s also a World Cup, the greatest show on earth, so there’s a fair bit of the old cognitive dissonance flying round. Rampant human-rights violations, World Cup. World Cup, rampant human-rights violations.
I’m well aware that, even in the Guardian echo chamber, there won’t be a consensus about the most appropriate way to liveblog this tournament. I’m sure some of you are thinking, ‘For heaven’s sake man, concentrate on the football, I want to know whether Qatar invert their wing-backs!’ Others will feel we shouldn’t be talking about the football at all, that this minute-by-minute report shouldn’t exist, that the Guardian should take a stand by liveblogging Alan Titchmarsh’s Love Your Garden on ITV instead.
The football will take over soon enough – it always does – but the controversy isn’t going to disappear, especially after the Fifa president Gianni Infantino gave the most bizarre speech since Father Ted Crilly received his Golden Cleric award and launched into an extended score-settler. And there are still some disturbing unknowns, not least how fans will be treated if they don’t show a little bit of flex and compromise.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to segue delicately to the actual football, so I’m just going to do it and hope I get away with it. In a few hours’ time, the hosts Qatar will kick off against Ecuador in Al Khor. Group A also contains Senegal and the Netherlands, who meet in the tournament’s first big game tomorrow, so both teams could really do with a win today.
The focus on Qatar the nation means we know very little about Qatar the team. They were impressive winners of the Asian Cup in 2019, winning all seven games and conceding only one goal. Their recent form isn’t as strong, but they did draw with Chile and have two very exciting attacking talents in Akram Afif and Almoez Ali.
Qatar have been training together for five months, which puts them five up on the other 31 teams. But they are still, in more ways than one, the outsiders in Group A. Whatever we might think of Qatar hosting the tournament, we shouldn’t ignore the rich, complicated human story of a squad representing their country in such a seismic event.
Ecuador’s young side qualified impressively, finishing ahead of teams like Chile, Colombia and Peru, although their recent results have had – and what a fragrance this would be – a whiff of George Graham: 1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0. Brighton’s Moises Caicedo is the star of a dynamic team who are some people’s dark horses to go deepish in the tournament.
The opening ceremony begins shortly; then it’ll be time – finally – to watch some football. Let’s get this sham/show on the road.
Kick off 4pm in London, 7pm in Al Khor, 11am in Quito.
