World Cup: Wales fans to miss Iran game over Qatar entry problem https://t.co/JFhI0zt8Xp
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 25, 2022
Dozens of Wales fans have been turned away at Dubai airport and will miss the crucial World Cup game against Iran.
A “glitch in the system” has meant that many supporters’ Hayya cards – the permit needed to enter Qatar for the tournament – have not been accepted…
Hywel Price from Cardiff has been staying in Dubai – like many other Wales fans – and had travelled to Doha earlier this week without any issues for the Wales v USA game.
However, on Friday morning he was told he could not board his flight as the permit was still pending on the app…
SportsMole:
Wales and Iran head into their Group B fixture at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Friday aware that victory could take them a pivotal step towards qualification for the World Cup knockout stages.
After Iran had lost 6-2 to England on Monday, Wales came from behind to earn a deserved share of the spoils against USA later in the day…
cmorenc
I am a soccer nut, so I cannot help watching WC games with intrest, nevertheless I cannot watch a single game without constantly being reminded: this WC is being played in fucking Quater, one of the least suitable potential inhabited sites in the world for a major soccer tournament on every count, except for the money Quatar could throw at it. The obvious reason is FIFA corruption, but I never knew the actual details until I began watching the Netflix documentary series on FIFA, detailing the kinds of corrupt self-serving deals Blatter and key players in the FIFA hierarchy like Jack Warner (former FIFA VP and head of CONCACAF) have extracted from prospective host countries and sponsors.
Take the selection of South Africa for WC 2010, which did have some merits, as another example – Blatter deftly courted and leaned on Nelson Mandela to fund a $12 million African diaspora relief program before SA was selected (nearly all of which mysteriously disappeared). The scheme whereby FIFA extracted funding from countries and corprorations for noble-sounding development programs of some sort, much of which disappeared without accountability, is a recurring M.O. Jack Warner essentially stole the share of WC proceeds that were supposed to have gone to the Trinidad and Tobago team when they qualified (first time ever) for WC 2006 in Germany. The FIFA hierarchy should have been in jail long ago.
Geminid
While Israel’s team did not qualify for this year’s World Cup, Israeli newspapers like the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel have been following the scene outside the games because of the unusual presence of Israeli citizens in Qatar, a country they do not normally visit. Israeli journalists have reported on their interactions with Iranian fans whose responses range from pleasant surprise to curt dismissal.
The responses they get from Qataris includes the latter. One reporter described a taxi cab ride that ended abruptly when the cabbie realized that he and his companions were Israelis and abruptly stopped and ordered them out. Another Qatari expressed his distaste at hosting people “who kill my [Palestinian] brothers and sisters.”
Unlike Arab nations Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco, Qatar has not joined Jordan and Egypt in establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. The Qataris have granted visas to approximately 10,000 fans from Israel, and authorized direct flights from Tel Aviv to Doha that began carrying Israeli and Palestinian fans last Sunday.
Qatari officials seem to tolerate the Israeli presence as a Cup host’s obligation and not a diplomatic opportunity. But I expect they’re still watching like hawks for any physical threats to these visitors. They have a zero-tolerance posture towards violence generally and during the World Cup especially. As for getting cussed out by Qataris, the Israelis probably see it as a step forward just to be in Qatar, cussing and all.
And it’s not like the two countries have no relationship at all. Qatar served as an intermediary between the Israeli and Gazan government during the May, 2021 war, and along with Egypt brokered the ceasefire agreement. Qatar supports Gaza with substantial aid, and that too is coordinated informally with Israel.
Montanareddog
Wales 0 – Iran 2
Better team won. 1st time Iran have beaten a European nation
Sets up an interesting USA-Iran match on Tuesday
Geminid
@Montanareddog: Given the backdrop of the protest movement in Iran that is well into its 2rd month, the US/Iran match will be interesting indeed.
bjacques
I’m at work so could only read the updates in the Grauniad. The goals were scored during injury time, at 8 minutes (!) and 11 minutes (!!)
My Iranian coworker is ambivalent about supporting the team, since he thinks their protest was useless (though he hates the mullahs too). Tonight and Tuesday I’ll be cheering our boys, but if we don’t go through, I hope Iran does, because they have balls of unobtanium.
Also, fuck Qatar. I kinda felt sorry for them when Saudi tried to choke them off, but now it just appears to have been a family squabble, now patched up.
Geminid
@bjacques: Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab states that blockaded Qatar finally threw in the towel after the Qataris just thumbed their noses at them for three years. Qatar has been a diplomatic maverick among Gulf Arab states, maintaining fairly good relations with the provocative Persians across the Gulf even as it hosts the region’s largest US Air Force base. They also align with Turkiye, and the removal of a few hundred Turkish troops stationed in Qatar was one of the Saudi demands that Qatar shrugged off.
Another Saudi demand was that Qatar rein in Aljazeera. This news site shines a harsh spotlight on injustices committed by Gulf Arab states (except for Qatar’s, of course.). That is in keeping with Qatar’s longstanding tradition of welcoming exiled trouble makers from around the Gulf.
Qatar is not especially warlike, but it tries to punch above its weight diplomatically. It hosted peace talks between the US and the Taliban, and was a key interlocutor between the two parties in the last days of the US withdrawal. And as I said above, they and Egypt helped negotiate the ceasefire that ended the 11-day Israeli/Gaza war in May, 2021.
Montanareddog
@bjacques: will you be leaving work in time for Oranje-Ecuador?
bjacques
@Montanareddog: if I leave a little early, maybe!
Kevin
Good news for the US, we just need to take care of business now. I was worried we’d go into the final group day needing a win and England having nothing to play for and letting down against Wales.
This has been an entertaining WC despite all the host country BS.