So, Qatar 2022 is really happening then; World Cup draw takes centre stage – The Warm-Up
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Updated 01/04/2022 at 07:58 GMT
Ahead of today's World Cup draw, Gianni Infantino has been comparing himself and his mission to Mandela, Gandhi and the great peacemakers of history. As you do. But this hasn't stopped the questions about the World Cup and Qatar. On the pitch, Wolfsburg have earned themselves a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona. Gulp.
'LGBTQ people not safe in Qatar' - Norway FA president criticises FIFA
FRIDAY'S BIG STORIES
So this is really happening then?
Today, the draw for the group stages of the World Cup in Qatar will be made.
Yesterday, Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA and grown man of fully 52 years, stood up in front of FIFA's congress in Qatar and compared himself to Nelson Mandela. And also to Gandhi.
Yes, now that the business of qualification is over, it's time for the world to sit up and say to itself: "Hang on. So it's really in Qatar? Weird." And then lots of other words much less complimentary than "weird". Perhaps the draw is when World Cup really comes together, when it changes from an abstract question for the future into an actual series of football matches.
Leading the criticism yesterday was Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian FA. After first dragging FIFA for World Cups "awarded by FIFA in unacceptable ways with unacceptable consequences," she then lined up her hosts: "There is no room for employers who do not secure the freedom and safety of World Cup workers. No room for leaders that cannot host the women's game. No room for hosts that cannot legally guarantee the safety and respect of LGBTQ+ people coming to this theatre of dreams."
Courageous, pointed stuff; naturally, Klaveness was told off and roundly patronised by a number of the men that spoke after her. We'll come back to her last point there in a moment, but first let's consider that peculiar triumvirate: Mandela, Gandhi, Infantino. Here's what football's dearest leader was getting at. Asked about the legacy of the 2018 World Cup, he reached for the history books.
"If you look at the last century, who are the people who made the most impact? Mandela and Gandhi. They had many reasons to be violent. They went another route. I think football can be like that … create understanding."
Leaving aside the historical particulars of Mandela's and Gandhi's campaigns of resistance, and also leaving aside the astonishing chutzpah, you may find all this strangely familiar. Comforting, even. We're not sure if he ever actually made the same comparison directly, but this sentiment is A-grade 24-carat pure Blatterology.
To nobody's great surprise, Infantino announced he would be standing for another term as FIFA president. He may do so again unopposed and in a mood of great popularity. But as Infantino's dreams of international statespersonship show, the spirit of his predecessor is alive and well.
This line of a thinking casts football as an abstract thing that descends onto a nation or a people from above, glowing warmly, casting light and healing energy into the dark corners. Football's administrators, then, are the benevolent and kindly dispensers of miracles: maybe Infantino should have gone straight for a comparison with St. Francis of Assisi. Where there is hatred, let football bring love. Where there is discord, let FIFA bring union.
This view of the world is many things, not least entirely incorrect about football as an animating force. The game grows up, from fields and back alleys, from the stoniest and most broken ground, through the millions upon millions of children and adults playing and dreaming and playing again. It is this that reflects upwards onto FIFA. Football is not given by FIFA, but given to it. Or, perhaps, taken by it.
But most important, in the context of the 2022 World Cup: this understanding of football and of FIFA is a universal excuse. For anything, for everything. It is powered by a self-supporting, self-justifying circularity: we're here to make things better; we're making things better by being here. And so Infantino can glide through it all, shrugging and smiling, shaking any hand he is offered and taking any medal going. It's all good; it cannot be anything other than good.
Just to throw all this messianic zeal into sharp relief, Klaveness' reference to "hosts that cannot legally guarantee the safety and respect of LGBTQ+ people coming to this theatre of dreams" did not arrive in isolation. Yesterday, a collective of organisations with a focus on LGBTQ+ rights accused the organisers of the 2022 World Cup of failing to provide written assurance on a number of questions and requests, including matters as fundamental as "explicit safety guarantees for LGBTIQ+ people against harassment, arrest or detention".
You might think that a reasonable request for any prospective World Cup host. Indeed, you might think that the absolute bare minimum. But here we are. Eyes down for the big draw.
Some more of the best teams
Over in the actual football taking place on the actual pitch, we have our semi-finalists for the women's Champions League. Arsenal's adventure is over after a 2-0 loss in Wolfsburg; probably a fair result on the balance of the two legs, and arguably a flattering one on the basis of the first half last night. And Juventus couldn't find one more shock result in Lyon.
Arsenal have plenty to build on for next season, which is about as much as can be asked for from a quarter-final defeat. Wolfsburg, meanwhile, have a semi-final against Barcelona to look forward to, which is more or less perfect for the interested neutral. Sure, it would have been a good final. But this way we get to watch it twice.
Do we give Wolfsburg a chance of ruining Barcelona's perfect season? Well, maybe. Certainly more of a chance than Arsenal, given that the Londoners conceded eight over their two group stage games. Perhaps more of a chance than anybody else. Anything can happen in football. It's a game of four halves. You can feel the confidence leaching out of this paragraph, can't you? Possibly some kind of extreme weather event?
Let's say this: Barcelona will be heavy favourites. But let's also say: they'll need to play well, because Wolfsburg are pretty good and very confident. The fact that it's almost impossible to imagine Barcelona not playing well — at least, for any significant length of time — may be inconvenient for their opponents, but in theory it should make for extremely good television for everybody else.
RETRO CORNER
On this day in 1995, Nottingham Forest stuck seven past Sheffield Wednesday. Stan Collymore and Bryan Roy got two apiece, but the rout began with an excellent Stuart Pearce free-kick. Watch the celebrations closely, and you'll see that Pearce is keeping the flame of the 1980s alive. His shorts are still short shorts, even as everything is getting longer and baggier around him.
HAT TIP
Make sure you're sitting comfortably, refresh your mug with your drink of choice, and disappear into this wonderful long read from Aniefiok Ekpoudom. "How south London became a talent factory for Black British footballers" is the headline, but there's much more in here: community, identity, generational renewal; from the rec to the pitch and on, in some cases, to the Premier League.
I still remember how things were back then. How we gathered on crisp Saturday mornings, seven-year-olds cut loose on Lewisham playing greens. We were young kids pulled into a sport handed down through the local family network, a Lewisham tradition slowly becoming our own, the crossfade of football and Saturday mornings shifting into ritual. Every generation just following the last. I still remember those weekends, still see the grass, the pitches where we were baptised. I still remember Hilly Fields. I still remember south London.
COMING UP
Back to the Championship we go. Huddersfield Town, up in fourth and right in the mix for the playoffs, visit Hull City, who are down in 20th. Over in Portugal, Benfica are off to Braga.
Have a good weekend. Tom Adams will be here on Monday.
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