In the end, the journey made by the winning team towards the Cup will look like a long crossing in the desert. In the running, they are not the most beautiful, but the most resilient, those who have been able to face the adversities along the way in the best (or least worst) way, including unexpected defeats, missed penalties, injuries, missed goals. Resisting and moving forward, when the warm wind blows against you and the sand fills your eyes, mouth, face, like the nomadic populations who lived in the lands that today are Qatar through pastoralism and fishing, breeding and rudimentary agriculture. , moving right between coast and desert.
Qatari pride
Putting aside for an instant the judicial events that are shaking Italy and Europe – but which here among the skyscrapers of Doha have practically no echo – the pride of the Qataris touches it after just a few steps taken in the futuristic National Museum, designed by the architect Jean Nouvel taking the shape of a ‘desert rose’. History of nomadism and adaptation, that of these populations, of pearls snatched from the sea and oil (whose discovery in the country dates back to the dawn of the Second World War) which changed the parabola and Doha’s place on the globe, starting an economic revolution, but also traumatic social changes. A very different narration – that of such an essential segment of history – from what is done in our latitudes, and in which the weight of the West is highlighted both in impacting on the rhythms of life of migrant peoples, and in managing their own ‘ the black gold’ and the immense wealth and energy resources deriving from it.
Macron a Doha
Who knows, one wonders, with what embarrassment French President Macron will land in Doha, expected tomorrow in the stands of the Al Bayt stadium (by the way: the box of honor can be accessed directly by car, via an asphalted elevated ring!) for the semifinal between France and Morocco, he European who arrives here precisely at such a delicate moment, and he French, symbol of a country that still today influences African and North African socio-economic policy (see, for example, the difficulties that prevent creation of a single currency of West Africa): in the History “seen from here”, through the panels, the graphs, the multimedia contributions of the National Museum dominated by the Qatari flag, the role played by the transalpines in the management and division of the Maghreb is outlined in a far from benevolent way….
If France play “away”
Certainly, for the reigning world champions it will be like playing in Rabat or Casablanca, given that in these hours 30 additional special planes are also arriving in Doha launched by the Moroccan national airline to bring other fans here to Qatar (and not that – we can guarantee it! – there were already a few…). Croatia will find the same atmosphere at the Lusail Stadium against Argentina: «They prefer inflation to drop (galloping in Argentina at an annual rate double ours, ed) or that the national team and Leo Messi win the World Cup?» “What a question! May the national team win the World Cup!»; this is the common response, on the streets of Baires, to a TV poll carried out in recent days. Sleeping pill, soothing, “weapon of mass distraction” (as someone has defined it) that it is, football has this treacherous and sneaky power to short-circuit the belly and mind, to open passages in the most surly of castles, reproducing on that green meadow (almost) perfectly the chaotic randomness with no apparent rule that determines our lives, careers, individual and collective destinies.
The challenge of the two outsiders
The challenge between the two outsiders will be collective – yes, even outsiders Croatia, runner-up in the world! – will lead to Argentina and France that distort the narrative of a final challenge as announced as it is expected. After all, didn’t the pearl seekers do the same, who dived into the waters of the Gulf in search of the gems that would have given sustenance to their families, to their communities? Hard work, testing lungs, heart, brain, and sunburnt skin, salt spray and jellyfish; work to be shared, to be done together, between those who dived and those who helped by staying on board the boat, to guarantee support, help, safety.