Match 11 - The World Cup Final
Reject Section
My tickets were part of the USA TST7. This meant I would see all USA matches and if they failed to progress it would follow the winning team. Clearly the USA losing a long time ago meant that the organizers could shuttle us off into the nosebleeds of the stadium with little risk. Our section was about half Argentines who had fortuitously snagged tickets on the resale market, and half pockets of Japanese, Mexican, English, Danes, Dutch, and others. Those folks, presumably with this same ticket package, were just excited to be there and experience the final. We collectively became known, just to me, as the Rejects. On the stairs up we bumped into a bunch of my fellow USA TST holders, mostly decked out in the same USA gear, but holding an Argentine flag or with Argentine face paint.
Closing Ceremony
My eyes welled up when BTS’ Dreamers began during the ceremony. I’m not kidding. I had to blink heavily and look away to stop from crying. Yeah, the song is good, but it was my body unilaterally reacting to the notion that I was done. A month of traveling, living out of a backpack. Constant logistics and planning. I thought I would have time to relax and watch a dozen Oscar films, and I barely got through two. Free time was few and far between. Any downtime was immediately taken over by a desperate need for sleep or to catch up on work. I had no idea it would be so exhausting. Of how anxious I’d be of making that next flight, or of how much there would be to do (or the exorbitant amount of unnecessary writing I’ve been doing).
These sweet dolphin and whale drones are awesome and I want one
Argentina
Fans
I have a love / hate relationship with the Argentines. They brought the energy (before you freak out, I didn’t attend a Mexico, Brazil, or Morocco match) and I was thoroughly impressed with their songs and chants. The one armed fascist looking salute movement was incredible, only bettered by the epic double armed version that evoked Jewish speaking to God energy. On the other hand they were a bit annoying. They thought it was their destiny and the world was out to get them. I take that broad statement back, some were. Some were antagonistic, less than sportsmanlike, and overly petulant. I didn’t like the way most of their players acted on and off the pitch. They were not a sympathetic bunch. Aggressive, but whiny and flopping quite a lot.
They had a lot of excuses when things weren’t going their way even when they ended up winning. They ended the tournament with the worst Fair Play record, with 18 yellow cards (yes, they played more matches, but France had 8). They received 5 penalties, that’s 3 more than the next team (France again, who received 2, both in the final).
But the two best matches I watched featured them, and that’s a fact.
This is the main anthem / song they sung… a lot.
Emiliano Martinez
I called it in my pre-tournament post. For Lionel Messi’s Argentina to have a chance. It would come down to this man. He had a few spectacular saves during the matches, but where he really excelled, was his constant shithousery and mind games during penalty kick shootouts. And boy, did they work. He was a nightmare for penalty kick takers and it paid off huge. I sincerely believe Lionel Messi should name his next child after him.
Campeones del Mundo
I applauded for Argentina for their win. It was set in stone once Emi saved two penalties. It was just a formality from there. They deserved to win it as far as I’m concerned; they outplayed France. I do wish that Brazil had beaten Croatia and that was an epic South American semi-final. But since I skipped that match anyway, I guess this all worked out.
Lionel Andres Messi
I was a Cristiano Ronaldo supporter for GOAT (Greatest of All Time) before this year. I found his dominating style more impactful than Messi. However, his meltdown at Manchester United, inability to find a summer transfer to continue in the Champions League, and his general performance decline have all casted doubt on that opinion. Then Messi proved it wasn’t just Barcelona that makes him incredible. He is an fantastic passer, dribbler, and shooter. He has great agility and acceleration. Far more energy than he should at his age.
So as far as I’m concerned, Messi is the GOAT (for soccer).
The Match
France
4 years ago I was in Paris for the World Cup win. Of the two teams, I was easily on the French side. I’ve always liked this team and country. They nearly did it despite missing some key players too. They’ve made it to 4 of the last 7 finals. Which is impressive. However, this did lead me to look up the stats on teams that haven’t won. Five teams have been in the finals and have never won. And only 8 countries have ever won. I hope 2026 shakes up the world order and someone else wins.
Mattos applauded me for my bellowing of the French National Anthem, La Marseillaise. The version used at football matches is shorter, but the second / final stanza is just epic.
“Aux armes, citoyens
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons!
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!”
Goals
The difficult thing about watching in the stadiums in Qatar is that they clearly haven’t perfected the in stadium production. I never got a replay of any of the penalty calls. In fact, I still, as of writing this, haven’t seen the incidents. That meant for the third French goal, I really didn’t celebrate it, because it didn’t seem valid to have been given. However, the second Kylian Mbappe goal got me up. Jumping and hollering Allez les Bleus at everyone around me. Mattos was a bit startled that I was that animated.
On the other hand, Argentina’s 2nd and 3rd were beautifully orchestrated.
Qatari National Day
I’m getting very tired. So I’ll go quickly. The Final also happened to coincide with Qatari National Day. They set up a blockade outside the stadium that effectively split some of the exit routes. Despite the parade not starting until after midnight (because they were waiting for the Argentines to finish celebrating inside and come out), they wouldn’t let people cross and unfortunately made people walk a multi-mile detour. As some of the only people to do it, we had no traffic getting away from Lusail City. But c’mon, that’s really uncool.
Logistics
Scary moment on the way to the stadium where the promised metro line was dropping off people every couple minutes to the Lusail station. However, people were not exiting the facility fast enough due to a narrow corridors, narrower door “squeeze” points, and too many people. The overpass to head to the stadium was so dense, slow, and packed, that the floor slowly became wet through human created humidity. The walls and ceiling dripped with this sudden climate. It smelled awful, and we wore N95 masks for it. Thank goodness. Definitely a superspreader event, not to mention the active danger of overcrowding. I threw plenty of bows and got pretty amped up to start a fight. Pretty sure a bunch of people called me some bad words in Arabic.
When we got out there were huge cheers. We were early to the match, so we didn’t even spend the maximum time in that hellscape. Must have been much worse for others.
Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
He got a round of applause from the majority of the stadium after they booed FIFA President, Infantino (I abstained from either for both). All criticism set aside, he has succeeded in his (assumed) goal. He kickstarted his airline and city infrastructure, and made Qatar a household name. He showed muscle by banning alcohol most places, and revived regional (mostly Arabic) unity and peace with other nations. They held as successful of a tournament a country that size could have possibly done. His citizens and many of the imported labor / expatriates seem quite fond of him. The co-branding synergy between Paris Saint-Germain that is ipso facto owned by him with the World Cup was an overwhelming success. Three of his stars were in the semi-finals (Messi/Argentina, Mbappe/France, Hakimi/Morocco, only missing was Neymar/Brazil), culminating in cloaking Messi in a Bisht and getting his culture front and center on the picture perfect moment when Messi became a deity amongst Argentines and football fans around the world.
Will it pan out in the long run? My guess is that it won’t. Not fully. But it definitely didn’t hurt.