Match 3 & 4 - The Smallest World Cup

All 8 stadiums are within a country the size of Connecticut. I swear I’m not just picking my home state, most publications for some reason use it as an example. It’s not the best representation though. The real mind boggling statistic is that all 8 stadiums for the World Cup are within 40 miles of each other. In terms of Connecticut distances, that’s if the World Cup was being held between Stamford and New Haven…

Advantage

Less travel for teams and fans. In the previous two, in Russia and Brazil, teams would have to travel up to 2,000 miles to get to their next stadium. However, here, we have access to all eight within public transportation (or honestly, an incredibly cheap taxi ride). Which is possibly a soccer lovers dream. It had been possible before to attend multiple matches a day, but it would be tight with the travel and highly unlikely. Here, we can do it with time to spare. And so I had to. We set up Japan v. Germany at 16:00 and Belgium v. Canada at 22:00. That would give us about 2-4 hours between matches. Which we spent at the Mall of Qatar (more on that later).

Disadvantage

You end up seeing and experiencing very little culture. Or doing anything else for that matter. With four matches a day (typical is three at this stage) there’s basically always football going on. Add a bit of jet lag, heat/sun in the middle of the day, working remote, the lack of walking accessibility, our affordable area, crowds, and the fact that there’s little to really do in Doha. It’s too bad. I imagine South Africa and Brazil offering plenty else to do as you traveled around their country. Here, their highest recommendation is going to the mall. Part of my justification for this World Cup was that I had no real interest in the actual country. Previous host nations are still on my travel list, so I will find my way there eventually.

A Double Header

I’m pretty sure the Japanese would be okay with my impression of them. I grabbed a few extra bottles in my section to recycle, and bowed and thanked anyone who congratulated me on the team’s win. I saw a Japanese man pick up someone’s sandwich bits and carcass and clean it up off the ground with their bare hands (he sanitized after) earning the handshake from dozens of fellow spectators. Hard to not admire their culture. They certainly were overly ecstatic with the surprise win against Germany. This was without a doubt the best match I had attended so far. The Japanese fans are without a doubt the best attendees. They showed up in huge numbers and were the loudest and for the longest. They’ve earned the admiration of every fan and neutral here, and it can be seen in the anecdotal kit sales I’ve seen.

The Saudis, who seem to grow in number daily, were overjoyed. Often celebrating with me chanting ASIA! ASIA! I have a feeling they are just happy for more traditional (Western) giants to fall.

In between matches we decided to get dinner at the Mall of Qatar. My first mall in the Middle East and I still don’t get it. It’s fascinating to me that the mall culture is thriving abroad, and not where the modern iteration of it originated from. The difference in success can be pointed at a few key reasons. Online access and particularly ecommerce is better stateside. Malls abroad are often centrally located and accessible by actual convenient public transportation, versus being out of the way on cheap real estate that is only accessible by car. They also don’t focus just on shopping, but also activities, food, and events. You can certainly see that redeveloped malls stateside are trying to increase the interactive nature of malls. Time will tell if this new version is adaptable by our culture. Locals even associate a level of class with which mall you frequent. But I think it’s really just the free air conditioning that is a draw. Oddly we noticed there were many a store selling lingerie. Weird for a very conservative country?

Anyway, I hated it. Overcrowded for nothing special. The only highlight, that was really incredible was this $4 chocolate vanilla milkshake… freshly made and served in this glass bottle. An absolute treat for my walk to the next stadium. C’mon, you thought you were going to read a Kwan blog and not get an ice cream shoutout? Baskin’ Robbins, way to go! But… do this stateside (for the same price).

The Canadians really showed up against Belgium. A few Americans I know wishing the Baby Eagles were this passionate and exciting. They dominated the game and lost through a singular lapse in conversation. This was also the most lopsided fan representation. Our speculative theory was that the Belgians both much smaller in population, and are confident they’ll make it to later rounds and would wait until then to show up. The Canadians on the other hand were just thrilled to be there, a 35 year gap since they had last been in the World Cup. I’m excited to watch more of them, but happy Belgium (and the Netherlands got their campaigns off to a good start).

Here I am with a swapped kit within the same day (threw Belgian on top, you can see the Japan sleeve sticking out!).

Look at this random weird tree I found in a park.