Opinion: Arab Americans distanced ourselves from or defended Qatar's World Cup. I did this instead. [Opinion]
The recently ended FIFA men’s World Cup had incredible matches, shocking upsets and spectacular showcases of talent. Arab American soccer fans like me are still excited beyond belief that the World Cup has finally been held in the Arab world and that Morocco’s historic run was witnessed and enjoyed by so many people. Unfortunately, as always, there was a second side to the popular sporting event. For the fourth World Cup in a row, there were serious controversies with the host nation.
that can potentially be taken apart and be reused for other things, and positive tourism for the Arab world, fan safety and no riots. It is unfair to Qatar to overlook the positives. However, the negatives are what may stick in the heads of fans and what the media will continue to focus on. Whether Qatar likes it or not and whether it is fair or not, the host nation represented the Arab world, and this was the first time many Americans entered that region of the world.
First off, as a fan, there is no way to “fix” this in the most literal sense of the word. Almost every country on Earth has some type of controversy and FIFA can’t always host tournaments in the paradises of Norway or Denmark. Even those countries aren’t perfect. For FIFA, money is king, which means as long as FIFA has viewers who will watch and players who will play, the games will go on. Soccer is the biggest sport in the world by far, so FIFA will always have many fans to coordinate, and players will always want to play for money, the pride of their country and their own legacy. For example, Portugal’sthat he scored the decisive goal against Uruguay over his own teammate.
Arab American soccer fans should be excited that the World Cup was in Qatar, but the media coverage was overwhelmingly negative, some of it for good reason. Traveling fans were assured that they would be welcomed, yet multiple fans were disallowed entry for wearing clothing supporting the LGBTQ community.
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