A couple of days ago, while promoting their crunch final match, the United States Men's teams social media accounts posted their two nations flags, but on Iran's flag, they had removed the Islamic Republic crest. In the press conference on day 9, Carlos Quieroz, Irans coach was asked about that. The most telling part of his answer sums football up, he said:

"I was born in a place in Africa. Some of you know my background. You don't know what one simple ball can do for kids who sometimes for one or two days don't eat. They don't have nothing to dress. And when we stop our cars, we open the cars and we put one ball in those parks. And you cannot imagine the magic moment that happens in the faces of kids and from sadness they change in one fraction to a smile. This is our mission."

You don't know what one simple ball can do for kids. One simple ball.

Football can get so confused, so messy, so complex, when entwined with geopolitics and the struggles between peoples, their rights, their governments and other nations.

In 1980, after Iran's Islamic revolution the previous year, the US backed an invasion of the country by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The subsequent 8 year war extolled a brutal cost on the Iranian people, with half a million dead or wounded.

So when the US and Iran met, ten years after the end of the war, at France 98, some were calling it “The most politically charged match in World Cup history”. The Iran coach at that time, Jalal Talebi, shares similarities to current Iran coach, Carlos Quieroz. Talebi grew up in Tehran, the city where the Dasht-e Kavir, the Great Salt desert meets the Alborz mountains, before the Mountains meet the Caspian sea. Kicking around on old rubber ball on those streets, Talebi's first World Cup memory was of 1966 and he idolised Bobby Charlton.

The US players had security detail on arrival in France, and the French FFF and FIFA played down potential threats. All the same, plain-clothed police officers were at US training sessions and in their hotel.

During the pre-game ceremony, each Iranian player presented their US counterparts with bouquets of flowers, and the two teams posed together in a combined photo.

“We are all people. We are not enemies..” said Talebi, “..we weren't there to fight. We were there to play sport”

When Iran scored two unanswered goals, they made history that day 24 years ago, it was Iran's first ever World Cup win. “The people in my country have never forgotten that night and how they danced in the streets until early morning” that was Talebi again.

And from the US perspective, Jeff Agoos said at the time: “We did more in 90 minutes than the politicians did in 20 years”.

Instead of heightening tensions, that game did, at least for a few years, bring the two nations closer together. Such is the power of football. This is why it makes no sense when people say, “stick to the football and leave politics out of it”. The game, the people playing it, the nations competing, and their trials and stories, are all woven together. From the a football game played in a brief truce, on Christmas day 1914, on no-man's-land between British and German forces, or the game which sparked a war between El Salvador and Honduras in 1970, to Quieroz's story of giving a football to a group of poor children who have nothing, football changes the world.

Onto the football then. And two of the best games in the Finals so far lit up day 9, with two African teams, Cameroon and Ghana, involved in two entertaining performances.

First up Cameroon against Serbia in a game that swung both ways. After Cameroon took the lead, Serbia fought back before with two goals in 1^st half injury time to take a lead into half-time. And a brilliant team goal, finished off by Aleksander Mitrovic, 8 minutes into the 2^nd half, put Serbia 3-1 up and cruising.

But inspired substitute Vincent Aboubakar would change all that. In 3 minutes he made a scoop of genius to lob the goalkeeper after beating the offside trap, and another wonderful run and assist had brought his team level. The lob was reminiscent of Karel Poborský's chip in Euro 96, if anything it was better. And though the VAR call was tight, the praying Cameroon fans in the stands had their wishes granted. Cameroon and Serbia both still alive in these Finals.

South Korea and Ghana up next. The Koreans were on top early but fell behind to two first half goals from Ghana. Both goals scored from crosses, a theme of this match. 2-0 down at half time, and a mountain to climb for the Koreans. But just like Ghana had in the first half, the Koreans had great success getting the ball into the mixer. Two goals in three minutes from Gue-Sung Cho brought the Koreans level.

But Ghana had a different script in mind. Another cross, this time low, bobbled to the back post after a terrible scuffed shot from Inaki Williams, which will go down as a most undeserving assist, fell to Mohammed Kudus to drive in low for his second and Ghana's third.

It would always be tough for the final two games of the day to match the first two for excitement, comebacks and goals. Switzerland set up knowing that if they committed too many in attack, Brazil's skillful players could easily exploit them on the counter. Instead, they made it as difficult as possible for Brazil to play to their strengths, and their game plan almost worked.

But for Casemiro, an unlikely scorer given the array of talent on display for Brazil, incluing their substitutes, Switzerland would have had the point they sought. 1-0 Brazil then and they joined France in qualifying for the knockout stages.

Qualifying for the knockout round would also be the prize for Portugal should they have beaten Uruguay in the days final game. But it wasn't just team goals on Cristiano Ronaldo's mind. Ronaldo is one goal away from equalling Eusebio's World Cup tally for Portugal of nine goals at Finals. So when Bruno Fernandes cross came close to Ronaldo's head, the unemployed striker claimed the record-breaking goal.

Replays didn't seem to show any deviation and it appears that Ronaldo was claiming something that wasn't his. The goal was given to Fernandes and the player who is still employed by Manchester United, could have had four. Hitting the post and being denied the match ball by the Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.

Portugal through then. But the incident that took the headlines was a pitch invader. Wearing a shirt with the superman logo on the front accompanied by the text: “SAVE UKRAINE” and on the back of the shirt the text read: “RESPECT FOR IRANIAN WOMEN”. He was swinging a rainbow flag around his head.

The pitch invader is an Italian footballer who plays for second-division Indian side United Sports Club but is a humanitarian campaigner. Mario Ferri, known as 'The Falcon', has recently been in Ukraine, driving refugees to safety in Poland.

Ferri has a history of pitch invasions, previous campaigns included “Save the children of favelas” which he rose awareness to in pitch invasions in South America and italy as well as at the 2014 World cup in Brazil.

Portugal player Ruben Neves came out in support of the Ferri after the game, “We hope nothing happens to the boy because we undersand his message and I think all the world understood as well”.

For people who feel hopeless, and in situations were they feel they are alone and have no support, especially against unbelievable oppression, statements, no matter how small, especially in the football world, can bring such hope and inspiration. Quieroz's one simple ball is not simply itself, but a metaphor.

Day 9: Cameroon v Serbia, South Korea v Ghana, Brazil v Switzerland, and Portugal v Uruguay

A couple of days ago, while promoting their crunch final match, the United States Men's teams social media accounts posted their two nations flags, but on Iran's flag, they had removed the Islamic Republic crest. In the press conference on day 9, Carlos Quieroz, Irans coach was asked about that. The most telling part of his answer sums football up, he said:

"I was born in a place in Africa. Some of you know my background. You don't know what one simple ball can do for kids who sometimes for one or two days don't eat. They don't have nothing to dress. And when we stop our cars, we open the cars and we put one ball in those parks. And you cannot imagine the magic moment that happens in the faces of kids and from sadness they change in one fraction to a smile. This is our mission."

You don't know what one simple ball can do for kids. One simple ball.

Football can get so confused, so messy, so complex, when entwined with geopolitics and the struggles between peoples, their rights, their governments and other nations.

In 1980, after Iran's Islamic revolution the previous year, the US backed an invasion of the country by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The subsequent 8 year war extolled a brutal cost on the Iranian people, with half a million dead or wounded.

So when the US and Iran met, ten years after the end of the war, at France 98, some were calling it “The most politically charged match in World Cup history”. The Iran coach at that time, Jalal Talebi, shares similarities to current Iran coach, Carlos Quieroz. Talebi grew up in Tehran, the city where the Dasht-e Kavir, the Great Salt desert meets the Alborz mountains, before the Mountains meet the Caspian sea. Kicking around on old rubber ball on those streets, Talebi's first World Cup memory was of 1966 and he idolised Bobby Charlton.

The US players had security detail on arrival in France, and the French FFF and FIFA played down potential threats. All the same, plain-clothed police officers were at US training sessions and in their hotel.

During the pre-game ceremony, each Iranian player presented their US counterparts with bouquets of flowers, and the two teams posed together in a combined photo.

“We are all people. We are not enemies..” said Talebi, “..we weren't there to fight. We were there to play sport”

When Iran scored two unanswered goals, they made history that day 24 years ago, it was Iran's first ever World Cup win. “The people in my country have never forgotten that night and how they danced in the streets until early morning” that was Talebi again.

And from the US perspective, Jeff Agoos said at the time: “We did more in 90 minutes than the politicians did in 20 years”.

Instead of heightening tensions, that game did, at least for a few years, bring the two nations closer together. Such is the power of football. This is why it makes no sense when people say, “stick to the football and leave politics out of it”. The game, the people playing it, the nations competing, and their trials and stories, are all woven together. From the a football game played in a brief truce, on Christmas day 1914, on no-man's-land between British and German forces, or the game which sparked a war between El Salvador and Honduras in 1970, to Quieroz's story of giving a football to a group of poor children who have nothing, football changes the world.

Onto the football then. And two of the best games in the Finals so far lit up day 9, with two African teams, Cameroon and Ghana, involved in two entertaining performances.

First up Cameroon against Serbia in a game that swung both ways. After Cameroon took the lead, Serbia fought back before with two goals in 1^st half injury time to take a lead into half-time. And a brilliant team goal, finished off by Aleksander Mitrovic, 8 minutes into the 2^nd half, put Serbia 3-1 up and cruising.

But inspired substitute Vincent Aboubakar would change all that. In 3 minutes he made a scoop of genius to lob the goalkeeper after beating the offside trap, and another wonderful run and assist had brought his team level. The lob was reminiscent of Karel Poborský's chip in Euro 96, if anything it was better. And though the VAR call was tight, the praying Cameroon fans in the stands had their wishes granted. Cameroon and Serbia both still alive in these Finals.

South Korea and Ghana up next. The Koreans were on top early but fell behind to two first half goals from Ghana. Both goals scored from crosses, a theme of this match. 2-0 down at half time, and a mountain to climb for the Koreans. But just like Ghana had in the first half, the Koreans had great success getting the ball into the mixer. Two goals in three minutes from Gue-Sung Cho brought the Koreans level.

But Ghana had a different script in mind. Another cross, this time low, bobbled to the back post after a terrible scuffed shot from Inaki Williams, which will go down as a most undeserving assist, fell to Mohammed Kudus to drive in low for his second and Ghana's third.

It would always be tough for the final two games of the day to match the first two for excitement, comebacks and goals. Switzerland set up knowing that if they committed too many in attack, Brazil's skillful players could easily exploit them on the counter. Instead, they made it as difficult as possible for Brazil to play to their strengths, and their game plan almost worked.

But for Casemiro, an unlikely scorer given the array of talent on display for Brazil, incluing their substitutes, Switzerland would have had the point they sought. 1-0 Brazil then and they joined France in qualifying for the knockout stages.

Qualifying for the knockout round would also be the prize for Portugal should they have beaten Uruguay in the days final game. But it wasn't just team goals on Cristiano Ronaldo's mind. Ronaldo is one goal away from equalling Eusebio's World Cup tally for Portugal of nine goals at Finals. So when Bruno Fernandes cross came close to Ronaldo's head, the unemployed striker claimed the record-breaking goal.

Replays didn't seem to show any deviation and it appears that Ronaldo was claiming something that wasn't his. The goal was given to Fernandes and the player who is still employed by Manchester United, could have had four. Hitting the post and being denied the match ball by the Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.

Portugal through then. But the incident that took the headlines was a pitch invader. Wearing a shirt with the superman logo on the front accompanied by the text: “SAVE UKRAINE” and on the back of the shirt the text read: “RESPECT FOR IRANIAN WOMEN”. He was swinging a rainbow flag around his head.

The pitch invader is an Italian footballer who plays for second-division Indian side United Sports Club but is a humanitarian campaigner. Mario Ferri, known as 'The Falcon', has recently been in Ukraine, driving refugees to safety in Poland.

Ferri has a history of pitch invasions, previous campaigns included “Save the children of favelas” which he rose awareness to in pitch invasions in South America and italy as well as at the 2014 World cup in Brazil.

Portugal player Ruben Neves came out in support of the Ferri after the game, “We hope nothing happens to the boy because we undersand his message and I think all the world understood as well”.

For people who feel hopeless, and in situations were they feel they are alone and have no support, especially against unbelievable oppression, statements, no matter how small, especially in the football world, can bring such hope and inspiration. Quieroz's one simple ball is not simply itself, but a metaphor.

When Jeff Agoos said: “We did more in 90 minutes than the politicians did in 20 years”, he wasn't being poetic.

Sunset on day 9 and a day that began with African prayers in the stands answered on the pitch, ended with prayers on the pitch that must be answered by the world. Every country has now played two games and will have one more chance to, as Quieroz put it: “bring the smiles for the people, at least for 90 minutes, right?”

When Jeff Agoos said: “We did more in 90 minutes than the politicians did in 20 years”, he wasn't being poetic.

Sunset on day 9 and a day that began with African prayers in the stands answered on the pitch, ended with prayers on the pitch that must be answered by the world. Every country has now played two games and will have one more chance to, as Quieroz put it: “bring the smiles for the people, at least for 90 minutes, right?”

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDITS

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.

And Day 8: Japan v Costa Rica, Belgium v Morocco, Croatia v Canada, & Spain v Germany

Hypocrisy comes in as many shades as a rainbow flag. If you want an example of it, you would do well to find one better than Piers Morgan. On the 2^nd June 2015 Piers tweeted: “Russia & Qatar must have their World cups removed. Both bids mired in sleaze & corruption via Blatter & his FIFA cronies”. A tweet which he has since deleted.

Piers has since taken a nice pay cheque to go and work in Qatar, he posted a photo of himself flying out to Qatar, his feet up, literally, on the furniture. And while doing so he has mocked the BBC for virtue-signalling. He also mocked the FA for the decision to not wear the One Love armband, “if you're going to virtue signal, at least have the guts to stick to your principles.”

For someone against virtue-signalling, Piers sure does a lot of it. Perhaps he was confused as to why the FA decided to scrap the armband, because he only deletes tweets he makes when he gets a big bag of Qatari money to do so.

Incidentally, Piers has also been, rightly, critical of Matt Hancock being on the TV show “I'm a Celebrity, get me out of here”, come on Piers, isn't it time we stop the virtue-signalling and just enjoy the competition? If only Matt Hancock had a big pile of money for Piers, ay?

Hypocrisy is a type of logical fallacy. And logical fallacies are useful to know, because logic can help us find the truth, and logical fallacies will take us away from it. When Gianni Infantino said: “I think for what we Europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years, around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.” As well as being factually inaccurate, he was making a logical fallacy based on hypocrisy.

Is it hypocritical of the UK to admonish Qatar for treatment of women, migrant workers and their LGBT+ community, if you consider the UK's enslavement and imperialist past? Or is it useful in a debate to turn the subject of the conversation upon your accuser, and make the story, not about 1000s of modern slaves dying building stadiums in a desert, but about the UK being hypocrites.

Is criticism of Qatar Islamaphobia? You'll be surprised to learn this is another logical fallacy known as the “Ad Hominem” argument. The modern world is full of logic, in the news, on social media, in parliaments and courts. If debate was a game logical fallacies would be fouls, but they only become own goals if you are able to call them out. I highly recommend reading about them.

On the morning of day 7 Saudi Arabia filled my twitter feed. There were rumours that after they had beaten Messi's Argentina, each player would receive a Mercedes. These rumours were of course ridiculous, they will be gifted a Rolls Royce.

Tensions between Qatar and Saudi Arabia feel like they're constantly simmering. Qatar is a tiny peninsula, Saudi Arabia is it's only land bridge. And Saudi Arabia, by comparison, is enormous. It doesn't take a genius to think that the Saudis might covet Qatar. Saudi Arabia is four times bigger than France, Qatar is smaller than Northern Ireland. And Qatar has 14% of all the world's natural gas: an already lucrative resource which has become vastly more expensive since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

And as recently as five years ago Saudi Arabia planned, with the United Arab Emirates, on invading Qatar and assuming control of the country. It was part of a plan which began with a blockade of land, sea and air of Qatar in 2017 known as the Qatar diplomatic crisis. An invasion was averted through US intervention and the blockade only lifted in 2021.

It's a minor miracle for more than one reason then that these Finals are going on at all.

Turkey and Iran in particular became much closer allies of Qatar during the blockade and that may indicate one reason why the Qatari security forces at stadiums have cracked down hard on anti-Iranian regime protesters.

A Qatar TV broadcaster, Tod TV, has been blocked by the Saudi government, meaning that Saudis are not able to watch most of the World Cup games. While their leaders sit close together at some of the games, the political tit-for-tat continues.

Onto the football then and Australia beat Tunisia in a game where both teams had chances, the first half belonged to the Socceroos, the second to Tunisia. The 1-0 win, along with France beating Denmark 2-1, means France are through and Australia will play Denmark that should, barring an unlikely victory for Tunisia over France, send one of them through to the next round.

Saudi Arabia played next, and despite the gifts of Rolls Royce cars, it was finally the chance for Robert Lewandowski to score his long overdue debut goal at a World Cup Finals. The 2-0 put them top of their group.

After France's match v Denmark where Mbappe oozed class and overpowered a Denmark team who had beat them twice in the Nations League, it was Argentina v Mexico.

Mexico were much fancied before the tournament, along with Poland, to vie for that 2^nd spot in their group. And Argentina's shock loss to Saudi Arabia in the opening game blew the group wide open. But when a team is under pressure, during the big moments, when they are most needed, the big players step up. Enter then, Lionel Messi, widely regarded as the greatest player to ever kick a ball.

There was barely anything in this game. Argentina edged possession, both sides had chances and Mexico started the brightest. In the 64^th minute Messi was allowed half a yard of space well outside the area, the shot had an xG of 0.02. But this is Messi, and it had to be him. If you walked up to the goal and put the ball in the side netting you couldn't have placed it better.

This will almost certainly be Messi's last World Cup. He has delighted fans for 17 years since establishing himself in the Barcelona first team. More likeable than his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, the humble Messi is seen as a team player, and so naturally gifted, that people who would never normally be interested in football, would watch because of him.

Should he win this World Cup, it would almost certainly cement him as the World's greatest ever player.

Day 8 then. And there was news from Tenerife where some Wales and English supporters have gone as an alternative to travelling to Qatar. In footage from Friday night that had gone viral by Sunday morning, groups of England and Wales fans could be sign in a mass brawl which has been viewd nearly 13 million times on Twitter.

Finally a normally news story about a World Cup, England fans behaving badly overseas.

One England fan was standing in the middle of the road, between the two sets of supporters, punching himself in the head in an apparent display of proof of how tough he is. A Welsh fan, confused starts punching his own friend by accident. Strange.

After Japan's “Miracle of Doha” against Germany, their next opponents Costa Rica were trying to make amends after losing 7-0 to Spain. This World Cup of shocks kept delivering as the Central Americans mounted a sturdy defence while scoring with their only shot on target. Former Real Madrid and current PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas made 3 saves and a heroic Costa Rican backline blocked 7 shots to deny the Samurai Blue.

Belgium against Morocco next and The Red Devils, who were ranked first in FIFA's rankings for 4 years in a row from 2018-2021 were in trouble when they could not break down Morocco's shape. Morocco have lost twice in over 40 games and have not conceded in 6 straight games. But it was the first time Belgium have failed to score since the Semi-Finals of the Russia World Cup.

At the hour mark Youri Tielemens and Dries Mertens were sent on, but on Onana's defensive qualities were missing and Morocco's captain got the deftest of touches to Morocco substitute Abdelhamid Sabiri's expertly crafted free-kick. Belgium brought another tree attacking players on, but still looked far too slow and passive. When Zakaria Aboukhlal scored in the 92^nd minute it confirmed only Morocco's third ever win at a World Cup and puts them in contention to get out of this group, with only Canada to play.

Speaking of Canada, in an emotional speech after their game against Belgium, Canada boss told an interviewer that the Canadians were going to “'F' Croatia”. It seems that the Croatians heard the interview, put the remarks on the dressing room wall, and that was all the motivation they needed. Croatia were beaten finalists four years ago and showed how they got there.

Though Canada scored first through a brilliant Alfonso Davies header, Croatia took control of the midfield and completely dominated the match from there on. It finished 4-1.

Onto the weekend's final game, the huge match between Spain and Germany. Germany were seeking redemption and knew they needed at least a draw to stay in the competition after losing their opening game to Japan. Spain had cruised to a 7-0 win versus Costa Rica and knew a win would put them through with a game to spare.

An entertaining draw saw Spain dominate for large periods of the first half, and Germany mounting late pressure and grabbing an equaliser through powerful forward Niclas Fülkrug.

After the weekends results the only confirmations we have are that France are through and Canada are definitely out. After failing to capitalise on their brilliant display against Belgium in the first game, zero points after two means they'll be going home whatever happens against Morocco.

It was Messi's weekend and after Saudi Arabia's performance against Poland, maybe it will be Mercedes and not Rolls Royce after all. At least the performance wasn't bad enough for more plans of invasion, as far as we know.

A final week of group matches before the knockout rounds lies ahead, and all to play for in Qatar. Apart from Piers Morgan's credibility of course, that was out before a ball was kicked.

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDIT

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.

Day six began with the most emotionally charged game of the Finals so far. Wales v Iran. There was not the nerves of the opening fixture for either side as they lined up for the national anthems. Both teams knew this was their best chance at picking up points and progressing to the next round.

This felt like the game with the most genuine supporters from both sides too. Wales red wall group of supporters belted out "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" – meaning Land of my Fathers, with a roar befitting of their reputation as a nation of singers. They sang with hope, determination, expectation. There were tears in the eyes with the emotion. Back home, a thousand schools were taking breaks from lessons so children could watch the game.

The word Welsh means foreigner or slave in Old English and was the name given to native Brits by the Anglo-Saxons invaders 1,500 years ago. There's been a lot of talk recently of a vote for Scottish independence, but listen to any interview with Michael Sheen and you'll wonder why the movement for Welsh independence isn't stronger.

The word Cymry means fellow-countrymen and Cymru means land of compatriots. Surely, if it is the will of the Cymry to be called by these names, as has been indicated before the tournament, then the English speaking world giving them that respect, is the least that can be done.

Onto Iran then. And we speculated yesterday that the arrest of Iranian footballer, Voria Ghafouri, was a warning to the Iran National team at the World Cup. Ghafouri is one of three high profile Iranian footballers arrested this year, joining Parviz Boroumand, former national team goalkeeper, as well as as unconfirmed reports of the arrest of 26 year old right back Amir Nasr Azadani.

There was no silent protest this time, the players sang the anthem and they didn't look happy to be doing it at all. It was a mumble at best. Meanwhile in the crowd the reaction to the images of the players singing heightened the feeling. Boos and jeers rose up with more fervour this match.

The camera gave us close ups of Iranian fans sobbing uncontrollably. Has there ever been national anthems like this? Normally there is a mix of some players singing, some not, often the veterans looking to get it over with and get the game going. This was quite the opposite, I've never seen anything like it, truly unforgettable.

Among the crowd a women, with makeup of red tears coming from her eyes, held up an Iranian t-shirt with MAHSA AMINI and 22 on the back, in memory of the 22 year old who's death in the custody of the morality police, was the catalyst which has sparked renewed protests across the country.

A man next to her held a t-shirt up with the slogan “WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM”. They were led away by security officers.

They were one of the few protesters that got into the stadium with their anti-regime messages. The process for passing through security at this game took longer than any game so far, with 1000s missing kick-off still waiting to get into the ground.

There are reports that Qatar officials are working to stop any anti-regime protests from the Iranian supporters. And the evidence all points to that.

The game itself was as passionate as the mood. For most of the game it was scoreless, but not without drama, the action, often end-to-end, was borne of two teams knowing that a draw would not really be good enough. At one point, Iran hit both posts in the matter of seconds. It encouraged the supporters in the stands. The Cymry becoming nervous but no less loud.

The drama intensified when, 4 minutes from normal time, the Cymry goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy, once infamous for being caught in a photograph performing a Nazi salute, and later claimed he didn't know what that was, was sent off after VAR suggested, correctly, that the referee had missed once of the most obvious red cards you're likely to see.

9 minutes of stoppage time for Ian to get a winner or for the red dragons to hang on.

What a moment then, that in the 98^th minute, Rouzbeh Cheshmi sent a brilliantly struck shot into the bottom corner of the goal and the celebrations from the whole squad were scenes of pure jubiliation.It was the first goal scored from outside the box at this World Cup. As Cymru pushed on in the dying seconds, Iran broke and Ramin Rezaeian clipped a technically brilliant chip over Danny Ward and brought pure ecstasy to a distraught nation.

No other game on day six could come close to this level of passion, and perhaps not in the tournament, Cymru 0 Iran 2.

Onto Qatar Senegal then. Now Qatar have taken a lot of criticism for their human rights abuses in this tournament, and rightly so. But their football team are terrible too.

2 goals for Senegal either side of half-time effectively ended the contest, and though Qatar warmed to the challenge at two down, and even scored their 200 billion goal, that was as much as you felt they could get. Bamba dieng restore the two goal cushion for Senegal and it was easy in the end for the Africans.

Netherlands are one of the favourites, but they were totally outplayed by Ecuador who should consider themselves unlucky not to have won. The Dutch scored from their only shot on target, a Cody Gakpo strike, from outside the box that snuck in at the near post. Five minutes gone, 1-0 Netherlands.

But it was all Ecuador after that. The South Americans had 15 shots to the Oranje's 2 and they got their goal just after half time from the talismanic Enner Valencia. Netherlands 1 Ecuador 1.

Onto the evenings main event then. England v USA. Finally two countries without a blemish on their human rights records. So we can just focus on the football!

England have never beaten USA at a World Cup Finals and the wait for that to happen will go on. To win at football you have to look like a scoring a goal, and England did not. But for the passionate United States Mens National Team, this would have been a dead rubber, but it's always a passionate game for States.

Every game rekindles stories of the war of independence, the reason they celebrate on 4^th July, a sporting spectacle against the old enemy. Cups of tea celebrations, but this game was no party.

0-0. An anti-climax. Day six began with the most passionate and emotionally charged game perhaps of the whole tournament, and ended with two sides who seemed content, in the end, to play out the draw, not wanting to risk losing the game. England have now effectively qualified, only an unlikely huge loss to Cymru in their final game would knock them out. The US know that if they beat Iran they will progress.

Qatar, who have waited and planned a decade for this opportunity, are out, will they ever qualify for a World Cup? Despite their Asian Cup win in 2019, their chances seem incredibly remote. Perhaps they should have stuck to nationalising players. They are the first host nation to lose two games of a group round at a World Cup.

Ecuador and Senegal will play what will effectively be a knockout match to progress, the only way Netherlands can be knocked out now is if they lose to Qatar and Senegal beat Ecuador. Meanwhile Iran will play the USA for a place in the next round, in what is sure to be another memorable tie.

In a tournament were debate has been fierce off the pitch as much as on it, Iran stole the hearts of all freedom-loving people. Their passion to make a better life back home, especially for the women of their nation, manifested on the pitch in a spirited and unforgettable performance.

You can take away their flags, and t-shirts, you can remove them from the grounds, but their message has been heard.

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDITS

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.

In the 10 years leading up to this World Cup, Qatar's message was simple: everybody will be welcome. You'll be able to drink alcohol in the stadiums. You'll be able to wear rainbow colours. We only ask you respect our culture. So much for that.

Before Wales' game with the USA fans were asked to remove, or had items of clothing confiscated, that had rainbow insignia on. Grant Wahl, a US journalist, was detained by security. He was taken to a room and kept there for over half an hour, they confiscated his phone and repeatedly asked him to remove his shirt.

“You can make this easy” one security officer said. You can make this easy sounds like a line straight from a gangster movie. Perhaps when they realised that Grant Wahl has north of 800,000 followers on twitter, and the photo he had tweeted before they took his phone from him was trending, they realised they needed to let him in. “We were just trying to protect you from fans who might harm you for wearing the shirt”.

There might be some truth in that. A different US supporter had a rainbow flag on the metro, travelling to a game, “this is banned in our country” said one of the passengers, before threatening to kill him.

But after urgent discussion with the Football Association of Wales, FIFA have now announced that clothes with rainbows on are allowed after all, and supporters will not be detained when wearing them to any venue for the rest of the tournament.

U-turn after u-turn, no wonder no-one knows where they stand. All aboard the magical FIFA merry-go-round. To me, an item of clothing with a rainbow on is innocuous, perhaps to a Qatari it is some kind of violence to their eyes. But to give the message for 10 years that the symbol would be allowed, and then to detain people on the gate, whichever way you look at it, is completely ridiculous.

It was of particular importance to the FA of Wales that crisis talks with FIFA over detention of fans reach a resolution. Cymru have waited a couple of generations to see the red, yellow and green of their proud nation at a World Cup. They know they might not have another opportunity to see this happen again in their lifetimes. And to have waited so long, and to be treated in such a way at the gates of a football stadium, is an emotionally charged issue.

But this Friday's Wales v Iran game will be emotionally charged for both sides. Back in Iran, the situation seems like it will get worse before it gets better. And in a move that is seen as a possible warning to the Iran World Cup squad, Voria Ghafouri, one of the nations most famous footballers, has been arrested for: “insulting and intending to destroy the national football team and speaking against the regime”.

Ghafouri had recently tweeted, “If you are indifferent to the killing of people, you are not an Iranian and you are not even a human being”.

Iran's coach, Carlos Queiroz, is well aware of the pressure his players are under. And was frustrated at journalists today asking about the revolution back home, and I'll paraphrase here:“Why don't you ask Southgate about why they left Afghanistan and all the women alone?”

There's been a lot of whataboutism and other logical fallacies in the debates surrounding this tournament. The reasons no one has asked England coach Gareth Southgate about the UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan are numerous. Firstly, in terms of the media's news cycle, it might as well be ancient history, it happened over year ago, the HBO documentary has already been released. Secondly, it wasn't a directive that came from the UK, UK troops were under the UN-authorised, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. It was not directly a UK-elected official's decision to withdraw at that time. Thirdly, it was a non-domestic issue which would almost certainly not directly affect any player, or their family members.

Iran is in the middle of protests which appear to be turning into a full-scale revolution, that is historically significant news which will personally affect everyone associated with Iran, including the players.

But this World cup is still a little bit about football though isn't it?

For much of the day the football didn't seem to get out second gear. Maybe it's the awkward timing of this world cup, the lack of preparation time for most nations. Football is a team game and having fantastic individuals doesn't mean they will find a mesmeric rhythm of passing that creates the spectacle associated with the beautiful game.

In two tight affairs Switzerland edged Cameroon 1-0, and South Korea and Uruguay played out a goalless draw. The South Korean team stood out, their backline made up entirely of players with the last name Kim, including the goal keeper. An absolute nightmare for radio commentary.

“Kim gathers the ball and looks up, he sees one Kim free, but two Kims marked, Another Kim on the far side screaming for the ball, how he didn't see Kim there is beyond me, Kim now, plays it to Kim, back to Kim, to Kim, through to Kim, Kiiiiiiiiimmmmm”

The football sprang to life in the second half of the Portugal Ghana game. Portugal are experts in diving and feigning injury. Their screams are wonderfully sculpted, just like their body shapes, when they arch their backs in mid-air, they are the envy of the ballet world.

It wasn't just Portugal though, the referee was falling for everything too.

And when a Ghana attacker breathed too hard near Cristiano Ronaldo, the unemployed striker planted his feet, tucked in his head, and executed a lovely forward pike. And when he converted the penalty he became the first mens player to score at 5 world cups.

The dives kept coming and Ghana fought bravely despite being overcome by an overwhelming sense of injustice. Jao Felix was the worst offender, throwing himself to floor time and again in efforts to get the Ghanian players booked. Shameful.

Ghana deserved a last minute equaliser and almost got it when Iñaki Williams hid behind the goal keeper, as he rolled the ball out Williams snuck in, but slipped at the vital moment. 3-2 Portugal.

Onto Brazil then and there wasn't the typical jogo bonito – beautiful game – from Brazil though they dominated. It didn't need much though against a Serbian side who looked awed by their superstar opponents. Brazil's second, a scissor kick from Spurs Richarlison, finally shrugged off any lingering nerves. The only worry for the South Americans was an injury to talismanic figure Neymar who will be assessed on Friday.

The first round done then with every team playing once. Netherlands, England, France, Spain and Brazil all had excellent starts. Argentina and Germany will wish to recover from huge shocks and though Belgium won, they will want to improve significantly on a poor showing against a very unlucky Canadian team.

With FIFA finally making a sensible decision in ensuring fans are not detained at entry to stadiums, perhaps we can finally focus on the football.

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDITS

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.

You can't silence democracy. For FIFA and Qatar every day is a school day.

It could have been so easy. When I was asked by @Global's network of radio stations about the decision by FIFA to effectively ban the One Love armband, I hadn't given it much thought. To me, it was basically another fairly meaningless gesture in an avalanche of meaningless gestures.

How many t-shirts and campaigns and altered logos have we seen down the years? How much has any of the equated to real change?

In fact, banning the armband has highlighted and prolonged the conversation about it even more. In fact, this is the sort of petty spat that might just be the feather that broke the camel's back.

Charles Bukowski said it best, “it's not the large things that send a man to the madhouse... but a shoelace that snaps.. with each broken shoelace out of one hundred broken shoelaces..”.

If FIFA had just let the players wear the armband, that would have been the end of it, another gesture, another statement. The law in Qatar would not have changed. Now the European Football Associations are angry, exploring their options, considering suing FIFA.

Day four began with Germany v Japan. The German team lined up for the photo covering their mouths. These are the sort of things that can snowball, a single snowflake, yes, a snowflake, can cause an avalanche.

What would FIFA be without the European Football Associations? What a World Cup be without European nations?

Since FIFA gate, when an investigation into the International footballing body found the organisation to be riddled with corruption, a new President has been added, some things have changed. But has the organisation really changed that much?

In his first speech as President, Gianni Infantino said to the delegates and representatives of Footballs global associations, “FIFA's money is your money”. The presidency is up for election at the 73^rd FIFA Congress, 16 March 2023, to be held at Kigali, Rwanda.

Our money is your money. Unopposed elections. I would forgive anybody for thinking that this is business as usual.

Remember the shoelace, or the snowflake? Denmark revealed that they have been thinking, along with other Nordic countries, of leaving FIFA altogether, since August. Now that would be a statement.

Revolutions don't happen overnight. It's a steady progression of escalatory actions from both sides of conflict. But it feels like this armband could be the domino that brings FIFA down.

And a prediction: I bet Infantinto wishes he had just let them wear the armband.

Now from one organisation that causes mess, to fans that clean up after themselves and everyone else. Japan.

Powerful images of spirit and passion as another World Cup upset brought this tournament to life and took the headlines, however momentarily, away from all the off-field drama.

Germany had 81% possession in the first half, 5 shots on target, 5 shots blocked. Japan had one shot. They were hanging on. A tactical switch at half-time and the momentum swung significantly. Germany still had the majority of the possession. But the chances created were even.

When Ritsu Doan equalised four minutes after coming on, the Japanese could sense a shock in the making, when another substitute Takuma Asano put them ahead 8 minutes later, they were in dreamland.

The Samurai Blue were not dreaming though, they were banishing memories. It was in this city, 29 years ago, that Japan lost a World Cup qualifier. The Japanese coach Hajime Moriyasu was in the team that day. From agony to redemption, a journey three decades in the making.

A story that back home, half the world away, they're calling: “The Miracle of Doha”. This is the beautiful game.

But Japanese joy was also met with glee from Qatari journalists. The German starting 11 holding their hands over their mouths will be iconic image from these games. But losing after it gave ammunition to their critics. One Qatari journalist tweeted, “This is what happens when you don't focus on football” and was liked more than 200,000 times. A bit of an open goal that, just not sure he knows which team he's playing for.

This was a game that Japan deservedly won.

But the gesture has received a string of historical whataboutery, what about Ozil? What about France 98 “who stole the wealth of Africa”. You can find fault with any nation, you can also find critics within their country on any subject. But what is clear is that deflecting the debate away from the rights of LGBT+ peoples; as well as the right for the European Football Associations to express support for universal basic human rights, only deepens the divide further.

It will only fuel the escalatory nature of this conflict.

In the game after, Spain obliterated Costa Rica so completely it was the football equivalent of Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu system, colloquially sometimes known as “Iron Crotch Kung Fu”. Which if you haven't heard of it, you really ought to google.

Spain 7 Costa Rica 0. Costa Rica had zero shots. The Costa Rica goalkeeper made one save, Spain scored 7 goals from 8 shots on target. Leaky. It must be a long way from Costa Rica after a performance like that.

Last times losing finalists Croatia came up against the wall that is Morocco. Morocco, if you didn't know, have only lost 2 games in their previous 40 over the last 3 years. Formidable. Both teams looked ponderous and neither looked like scoring.

Onto the final game of the day then and Belgium's golden generation came up against rank outsiders Canada, who absolutely battered them for a 1-0 loss. Canada's expected goals for this game was 2.63, Belgium's 0.77. Canada had 22 shots, that is more than Spain had against Costa Rica.

It was an utterly extraordinary performance, up there with the biggest shocks of the tournament so far. Unfortunately for Canada, their country have never scored at a World Cup final, and they might have had another 20 shots and I'm not sure it would have helped.

When you look up and see the Real Madrid goalkeeper in front of you, and your nation has never even scored a World Cup goal, you can imagine why many of these shots were ending up in orbit.

Twilight on day four and an early finish for the cleaning crew after Japan's game. But plenty of mess for FIFA to deal with. Might an armband be the domino that finally brings the proper reform needed in Footballs ultimate governing body? Who knows? But one thing is certain – critics of Germany's protests are only matched by Canada for completely missing the target.

Qatar have buyers remorse. Sources from Qatar have told The News Agents that: “Nothing good has come to us as a result of this.” Perhaps they could buy Manchester United?

And it wasn't the best day for the GOATs of the footballing world, one lost his job and the other was involved in the biggest shock in World Cup history.

Just another day in Qatar.

Day Two, as you know, saw security officers refusing entry to fans who were wearing items of clothing bearing rainbow symbols. Qatar finds rainbows scary. A tweet from a Qatari went viral on the topic: “As a Qatari I’m proud of what happened.” - pride – an interesting choice of word given the circumstances, he continued: “I don’t know when will the westerners realize that their values aren’t universal. There are other cultures with different values that should be equally respected. Let’s not forget that the West is not the spokesperson for humanity.”

There's a lot to unpack there. Central to his thesis seems to be the idea that persecution of LGBT+ peoples is a sort of, quaint quirk of the local culture, something of which to defend and be proud of. Perhaps this is a good point to remind you dear listener, if found guilty in Qatar of being gay, you could be sentenced to death by stoning.

Gay people can be found everywhere, and all the ones I know, quite enjoy not being persecuted for who they are. And while I can't be certain, I'm fairly sure that gay Qataris, might being who they are without fear of years in jail, or being tied to a post and hit with stones until they die.

Harry Kane didn't want to wear the One Love armband because he loves RuPaul's Drag Race and thinks that Qatar TV ought to be forced to show reruns on national television. The issue here is Universal Human Rights, something that the United Nations created a charter for in 1948. And it was not only the western world which agreed to basic human rights for all, several middle eastern countries, as well as Islamic nations also agreed. Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria and Turkey, all agreed that: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language..” etc.

Meanwhile, Belgium agreed to to FIFA's demand to not wear the shirts with LOVE on them.

Even the US Secretary of State was talking about the armbands. Never mind buyers remorse, Qatar paid 200 billion to be critised by basically everyone and tarnish the previously excellent diplomatic relations they had with the USA. And it's only day three.

Something else had happened overnight. Something quite strange.

The official capacity of the Qatar World Cup stadiums had officially grown by 12%. Now I know these migrant workers are battle-hardened by the conditions they've had to work in. But even for them, this seems like an almighty feat. How else to explain it?

Had the stadiums gorged themselves on the national dish of Qatar – machboos – and swelled overnight from the meat, aromatic spices and rice?

It's no coincidence the change has come after questions about the figures of official attendances being much larger than the capacity of the stadiums, despite a large number of visibly empty seats.

Now Qatar and FIFA are claiming that not only are all the empty seats full, but in fact the stadiums themselves are much larger than the look too. The Qatar slogan was “Expect Amazing” but I honestly never thought magical expanding stadiums and fans that look like empty seats would be on the agenda.

Maybe the original capacities were incorrect, maybe the attendences are actually tickets sold and not people attending. Maybe some people bought tickets before reading literally anything about Qatar, then when they realised they'd made a mistake, found they couldn't cancel them. Who knows? But Gianni Infantino's prediction of 3 million people attending the games seems impressively inaccurate.

Onto the football then, as Saudi Arabia came from a goal down, to beat favourites Argentina, 2-1, with a little help from VAR. But you couldn't say, apart from the bizarre VAR offside decision, that they didn't deserve it.

One viral video showed a group of Saudi men watching the football, as Saudi scored their second, the men celebrated with a reckless abandon, one man booting a cushion, another picked up a door which was, for some reason, not on its hinges, existed the building and chucked it at an outside wall. In another celebratory video, one Saudi supporter left the television room, went outside, and shot several rounds of an AK47 into the air. Each to their own.

But, finally, this is what football is about. The underdog, one of the, on paper, weakest teams in the Finals, beating the favourites, with the talismanic Messi at probably his last World Cup, widely regarding as the greatest footballer of all time.

Argentina had gone unbeaten in 35 matches, including beating Brazil to win the Copa América and beating the European champions Italy to win the Finalissima.

It was simply the single biggest shock in World Cup history.

In Saudia Arabia, King Salman announced a public holiday to celebrate. A public holiday. Sometimes it's easy to forget just how important this sometimes magical game is.

The Saudia Arabian coach Hervé Renard, was, as you can imagine, in dream land: “This is football. Sometimes things are completely crazy”

Raw emotion. The seemingly impenetrable champions of South America have been rattled, the footballing world shook.

What we needed from this tournament now, was, for goodness sake, some normal, boring, mundanity.

Two 0-0 draws in a row – this is more like it! It wasn't quite 'Stoke away on a Tuesday night', but it was 22 men kicking a pigs bladder around for 90 minutes and no one scoring. This is the beautiful game we know, none of this heightened spectacle, none of the geopolitical drama we've had, well, not to the same depths at least. Just four football teams who can't score – marvellous!

Mexico, Poland, Denmark and Tunisia, I salute you, thank you for saving me some words and time. 2,000 words every day for 15 days in a row might be impossible, but with matches like these, I can save my breath.

All I would say is that there were so many Mexican fans it seemed like a home match for them. Plenty of gusto, not enough quality. And Denmark's game was notable for the return to the international stage for Christian Eriksen. When Eriksen died on the pitch at the European championship and had to be resuscitated, with his teammates standing around him in a circle blocking the view of cameras and the crowd, it was one of the moments you don't forget. The sight of his lifeless eyes was a shock that moved anyone watching. The TV director lingering on the efforts to save Eriksen had most of us screaming at the TV not to show it.

But there was little of the togetherness and passion that the Denmark team had shown post that incident to propel them to the Semi Finals of last years Euros. They'll be looking for more from their remaining games.

And as for Mexico and Poland, despite a missed penalty from Polish talisman Lewandowski, both teams will be encouraged after Saudia Arabia blew that group wide open.

Onto the final game then France v Australia.

You might say it hasn't been the idea preparations for France.

The worst of it has come from a report by Romain Molina which casts a horrifically dark and disturbing image of 40 years of the worst imaginable abuse of children within France's football pyramid. And at the heart of this report, a cover up at the highest levels by the French Football Federation, the FFF. The same FFF whose initials are stitched on to the shirts of the current football world champions.

40 years of silence is the name of the article and it is at josimarfootball.com. In the interests of brevity I won't go into any more detail here. It's yet another topic that deserves its own podcast.

From a topic not funny at all then, to Paul Pogba's brother. Mathias Pogba revealed earlier in the year that Paul Pogba had hired a sorcerer to cast an “evil eye” on Kylian Mbappé who he was jealous of. You can't choose your family.

Mbappé himself led a revolt against the use of the players images to advertise various products which he disagrees with.

France are without a number of their star players who won the world cup. Some like Matuidi have retired from international football, others like Pogba are injured and some are out for less savoury reasons. Benjamin Mendy for example, is standing trial on multiple counts of rape. Though I should say he denies the allegations and has been found not guilty on one count, with multiple counts still to be tried.

Even Karim Benzema, Ballon d'Or winner, who was injured as late as Saturday, was given a one year suspended sentence last year after being found guilty of attempted blackmail of his former national team-mate Mathieu Valbuena over a sex tape.

That's not even where the rabbit-hole of controversies ends when it comes to France and football, that's only the beginning. Sacre Bleu!

Onto the game then and when Australia took the lead in the 9^th minute of the game, it felt like there might be another giant-killing in the making. France had only one win in six leading into these Finals and they looked out-of-sorts.

But their quality broke the Aussies resistance and in the end it was comfortable, 4-1 France and Mbappé's class was the stand out. A goal and assist said the scoresheet, but the truth is, every time he got the ball there was a sense of magic, perhaps Paul Pogba's socerer's spell had backfired, and instead of cursing Mbappé, he has given him powers?

We're at the half-way mark of the first round of matches with nig-hitters like Germany, Belgium, Brazil and Portugal to come.

The day began with the magic of expanding stadiums and invisible fans, and the fear of rainbows and love. Day three ended in the magic of football – bringing joy and a national holiday to Saudi Arabia, and the mesmerising skills of Mbappé.

Perhaps it was the day when Messi handed over the reigns to his PSG teammate as the current World's best player. And as the sun sets on the day of the greatest shock in World cup history, we can say a silent prayer for all the Qataris so affected by the images of rainbows and the word love.

World Cup Diary

Day 2: England v Iran, Senegal v Netherlands, & USA v Wales

Another day of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar and we woke up to the news that FIFA had threatened the European Football Associations that if they were to wear the One Love captain's armbands adorned with a rainbow heart, that they would receive sporting sanctions, including perhaps a yellow card for the wearer, suspensions from games or even points deductions for the nation.

Remember, the One Love armband had been planned for months, FIFA made a decision on the morning of matches featuring nations who had chosen to wear it.

And then in a move that made FIFA President Gianni Infantino look even more like Voldemort from the Harry Potter films, FIFA asked Belgium to remove the embroidered word “Love” from their shirts. Was not a shred of irony lost here? What is the problem with the word “Love”?

In fact, FIFA have a set of rules and guidelines for inclusivity and diversity, as well as football's role in society. “Football has to show social responsibility just as all sectors of society do.” That's not me saying that, that comes from FIFAs 2015 “Good practice guide on diversity and anti-discrimination”.

If you haven't read this 94 page document, I don't blame you, but it seems like Gianni Infantino hasn't either. And after making these decisions regarding the One Love armband and even the word “Love” itself –2022 Gianni Infantino is going to be absolutely furious when he learns what 2015 Gianni Infantino had to say.

“FIFA is demonstrating in word and deed that discrimination has no place in football” he said.

“The knowledge and expertise of our member associations is crucial in our commitment towards ensuring that football is for all. Only by working together can we ensure that this aim is achieved” he said.

“So speak out, lend a hand, take action. Safeguarding diversity in football is something we must all do.” he said.

Well, 2015 Gianni, I'm trying to speak out, to lend a hand, and to take action, as are the European Football bodies. Trouble is, 2022 Gianni Infantino is making it really difficult.

Anyway, while FIFA were focusing on important matters like erasing the word LOVE from existence, somebody had updated the FIFA ticket app incorrectly, deleting tickets for people using the app. When fans arrived at the Stadium for England v Iran they were told they couldn't get in, and they ended up queuing for hours while the ticket offices printed physical copies of tickets for the game.

It's going well isn't it?

With so many empty seats in the stadiums today, I did wonder why organisers didn't simply open the gates for all who were there. Who would go all the way to Qatar without a ticket? And even if they had, they were so easy to get a hold of.

It wasn't until FIFA released the official attendances of todays games that I realised why they couldn't just let any old person in. All of the games played in this years World Cup were actually over capacity.

That's right. Your ears are not deceiving you, your eyes were. At the opening ceremony there were 7,372 more people than there are seats, which is even more odd when you consider how many empty seats were visible. Across today's games, there were an extra 10,000 people attending, despite, again, the grounds being nowhere near capacity.

Remember, these are official figures.

Two days ago Infantino asked why European journalists do not talk about all the good that has happened in Qatar, all the great changes that have come about because they are hosting the World Cup. Maybe that's because any perceived changes appear to be exercises in public relations and as accurate to reality as the official attendance figures.

If Qatar thought that this World Cup would be a way of sports washing their nation, then they might find the spot light of the world too harsh.

And why should we doubt their intentions? Maybe, as an example, when they do things like invite Indian Islamic televangelist Zakir Abdul Karim Naik to the World Cup to give religious lectures throughout the tournament.

This is a man who is a fugitive, facing charges of money laundering and hate speech. Who has advocated suicide bombings in the name of Islam, who has even, somewhat incongruously, called “football as a profession: haram” i.e. forbidden by God or evil. He has compared non-Muslims to animals and recommended the death penalty to LGBT+ peoples. He has condemned music, dancing and singing as “intoxicating”.

This is a dignitary, an invited guest speaker. Erasing the word “Love” is starting to make sense.

Maybe none of this was ever about sports washing. Maybe this was about selling extreme interpretations of Islam to the world?

In any case, FIFA's aims for football include bringing nations and cultures together, not promoting ways to tear them apart.

I digress, 800 words and still no mention of the teams playing today, and we are still far away from talking about anything on the pitch. This World Cup is the ultimate metaphorical geopolitical onion.

Day Two was an emotional day for Iran.

The political situation in Iran is another topic which is far too big for this podcast. But briefly, Iranians have been protesting against their government in some form or another for decades, but the latest movement began in October 2016 and was re-ignited in September 2022. The protests are thought to be turning now into an attempted revolution, and what was once dissent against a cocktail of issues: low wages, unemployment, inflation, corruption, the water crisis, the international isolation of the country has since been focused on women's rights.

In September this year Mahsa Amini was arrested for not wearing a hijab by Iran's Guidance Patrol – the religious morality police. Morality police: it sounds so dystopian to my ears. Mahsa died in their custody. Reports were that she was beaten to death. Beaten to death, for not wearing a hijab.

Mahsa's story was not the first story like this. She was not the only women who has been reported beaten by the morality police. But her death sparked a wave of protests that were more serious, more passionate, more violent, more reckless, more purposeful. The largest and most widespread protests since at least 2009, perhaps the biggest protests since the revolution in the late 1970s.

Iran Human Rights have reported that at least 304 people have been killed in the protests, Amnesty International have reported that in some cases Iranian security forces were firing live ammunition into the crowds. Others were beaten to death with batons, just like Mahsa. Thousands have reportedly been arrested, some have been sentenced to death.

From the city streets, windows and rooftops, to the towns and countryside, the cry of the people is, “the whole regime is our target”. On the gravestone of Mahsa it reads: “.. you will not die. Your name will become a rallying cry.”

So it was under this backdrop that the ashen-faced Iranian captain, Ehsan Hajsafi, became the first Iranian footballer to speak about the protests. His sad-eyes flickered with the enormity of what he felt he had to say. It is a dangerous thing, to speak out against the Iranian regime.

This is still football right?

Again I think back to FIFA's directive sent to the Football Associations before the World Cup with the instructions to, “focus on the football”. It's impossible, football is completely inseparable, at least at this World Cup, from the politic upheavals in the world today.

Because it's so symbolic. This nations flag, this national anthem, these people at this moment, they take their place on the theatrical stage with the whole world watching. The world's game, the world stage.

When the English and Iranian players lined up for the national anthems, the stony-faced Iranians looked defiant, their refusal to sing the national anthem a small but significant gesture to their government back home. In the crowd the feelings swelled louder, booing, jeers, cheers and tears rose up to meet the public announcement system blaring out those music notes.

It was a cry for help. And another timely reminder that, just as we separate ourselves from our own governments, so we must never mistake the Iranian people for the Iranian government, nor, for that matter, the Qatari people for the Qatari government.

One last symbolic political gesture then before a whistle was blown that day, as the England players took the knee. A gesture so protested at home, perhaps the reality of global politics, might show how vital these gestures are.

The football then, phew, we made it.

There had been fears that Gareth Southgate's style of football was not attacking enough. That his 3-4-3 system was too defensive, or even – boring. Well England scored put six goals past Iran, playing in a 4-3-3. England the boring no more, arise England the beautiful, England the emphatic.

19-year-old Jude Bellingham ran the show from midfield, he already looks a superstar.

And there was a heart-warming moment at this World Cup. Jack Grealish's celebration, a tribute to a young fan with cerebral palsey – 11-year-old Finlay. This is what football is about.

There was of course the ritual of VAR discrepancies, but something new – enormous amounts of added time. Something which seems to be a deliberate new rule. At 6-1 in the 90^th minute the 4^th Official raised the board for 10 minutes of extra time. If this is a ploy to stop time-wasting then perhaps it will work, but it feels like another change that will get old very quickly.

A change that would be welcome, and one that has been called for repeatedly, would be concussion substitutions. Players safety has never really been a priority for footballing authorities. We've seen FIFA's obsession with money, but it's not just them, players are playing more games than ever, player welfare at an all-time low.

Footballers are up to five times more likely to develop dementia later in life than members of the general public. The concussion protocol is already in place, it simply needs a signature. It seems like the footballing authorities currently have other priorities.

But at the final whistle, there were only positives for the England team.

Now then, Senegal v Netherlands, finally, a World Cup fixture reminiscent of the ones from my youth. Two colourful sets of fans, with contrasting cultures that always seem to come together in tournaments in fun and good faith.

The congo drums of Senegal and colourful outfits serenade any game they attend.

But the story of this game is the Iron Tulip, Louis Van Gaal, the Netherlands manager, on his last managerial assignment, having survived intense cancer treatment earlier this year. The cancer treatment was a success, his decision to retire after the tournament seems final.

A tight affair lit up late in the game by a couple of moments of brilliance. And the hotly-tipped Cody Gakpo breaking the deadlock. Netherlands win, as they were expected to, 2-0, not emphatic but perhaps they are just warming up.

And so onto the day's final game, the USA v Wales. It was Wales first World Cup for 64 years and the Welsh had the largest and most vocal travelling support of the tournament so far.

They were happy “just to be there” but were dominated by a young, aggressive USA side that come with a tactical plan – to play fast direct balls with clever movements by the forwards to get in behind the Wales defence.

I can only assume Michael Sheen's stirring speech was played in the dressing room, or perhaps part of his concentrated spirit injected into their half time oranges as the sleeping dragon awoke in the second half.

This was more like what we have to come to expect from Wale's 'golden generation'.

George Weah's son Timothy had opened the scoring for the USA, meaning the last two goals Wales have conceded at World Cups are by the famous names of Weah and Pele. Football heritage. And it was Gareth Bale, who else – from the penalty spot that has given Wales hope and put the group in the balance. England are out ahead, but 2^nd place is up for grabs.

The USA are a sleeping giant of football, this young team have so much potential and in four years time on their own soil, they will be looking to go far.

The day had begun then with FIFA trying to erase the word love, and football finally taking centre stage. As twilight falls on day two I can't help but think of security officers in stadiums refusing to allow any one wearing rainbow colours into the ground. Former Wales footballer Laura MacAllister was asked to hand her rainbow bucket hat into lost property. She pretended to do so, but instead smuggled the hat in anyway and planned to wear it: “There's no point having principles if we're prepared to give them up the minute someone challenges you”.

Wise words that the 2022 Gianni Infantino could learn from.

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDITS

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.

Day One: The Opening Ceremony and Qatar v Ecuador

From the moment Qatar was announced as the hosts of the 2022 World Cup, there has been an uneasy feeling about it. A country smaller than Northern Ireland, with next to no footballing heritage, hosting the biggest tournament of the globe's biggest game seems ludicrous. Would Northern Ireland be named as hosts? I cannot even see why they would ever even bid. And yet Northern Ireland is bigger, has a strong footballing heritage, and were far more able at the time of the bidding, in terms of facilities, weather, human rights and laws, to be able to run this tournament than Qatar.

The story of the games itself is far too big for one podcast, it might be far too big for a series. So, initially, these episodes, the World Cup Diaries, will feature my thoughts on these games, day-by-day. As much as mental notes for me, as they are a way to keep up for you.

The build-up to the opening ceremony was as lined with controversies, geopolitical face-saving and last-minute u-turns, as the rest of the preparations would have led you to expect. A Danish TV channel was confronted by what appeared to be local law enforcement – though the presenter acted with dignity in the face of oppression, they dismissed his press pass and threatened to “smash the camera.”

Three days before the tournament and the FIFA executives arrived to find their luxury World cup hotel was not finished. A 'last minute scramble' was taking place, a few more days of hard graft for the overworked and underpaid migrant workers.

There was more on that day as Jack Warner, disgraced former FIFA vice-president, lost an appeal against extradition. Still many more steps before we see him behind bars. But a reminder of the current state of the former members of the FIFA executive committee which is responsible for the location of this World Cup.

Two days before the tournament, beer sales at grounds were cancelled. Budweiser, who had paid a reported £60 million for the exclusive rights to sell beer at the tournament tweeted, “Well, this is awkward...” before deleting that tweet. But it is awkward, isn't it? I mean, literally everything about this tournament is awkward. Surely this was some kind of breach-of-contract? The decision was also announced jointly by FIFA and Qatar. Which seems odd, when the rationale for the decision must of, obviously to me, have come from Qatar. Perhaps they had a meeting and both wanted to speak first, started giggling and said, “no you go, no you, go, OK how about we count to three and we both speak?” and to their amazement the FIFA representative and the Qatari counterpart counted down from three – two days before the tournament – and both said: “Let's ban alcohol sales in the grounds”.

There is one place in grounds you can enjoy a pint – hospitality – prices start at £19,000 a ticket.

There was more that day, the Daily Mail had an exclusive from their chief sports writer Matt Hughes. There would be no water fountains in the official FIFA fan park. Conjured images of the documentary Woodstock 99 came flooding back to me, combined with the Fyre Festival looking facilities, it does make you wonder how bad this could get. One clear saving grace was the decision made five years after being awarded the bid, to hold the tournament in winter. A decision that has no-doubt saved some lives.

And still before a firework had exploded or a ball had been kicked, there were rumours of corruption. A “widely known” disinformation Twitter account of a British-Bahrini social media influencer – Amjad Taha, had a viral tweet suggesting the Ecuadorian players had been bribed $7.5million to lose the opening match of the World Cup 1-0 with a goal in the second half.

This also shows the power of not having competent and knowledgable mis and disinformation personnel within the structure of a news outlet. This was a tweet that had zero factual information, being widely reported by many news outlets. The fact that this can happen can be used against Western outlets who are genuinely investigating and uncovering and presenting evidence-based reports.

If fake news can spread so easily, then genuine truthful reports can be accused and dismissed.

And finally, one day before the tournament, an “integrity alert” was given to FIFA about an “unusually high number of penalties being awarded to Qatar in their pre-World Cup friendlies”, many of which were held behind closed doors. Another claim that could not be verified.

But the fact that these claims were so readily believed, shows exactly what the general feeling is among the football community with regards to this tournament.

And just when you thought that all the drama would now take place on the pitch. Enter stage left, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, whose bizarre press conference 19^th November took sports headlines once more from the back pages to the front. He told the world he feels Arab, African, gay, a migrant worker and disabled, while the media are racist hypocrites. And he said he felt like them because he was bullied for having red-hair in school.

On a rip-roaring descent into logical fallacies, this bizarre apologist did more than erroneously empathising with working practice akin to modern slavery where people were literally worked to death on the basis of, “I got bullied at school for having red hair”. Infantino's bizarre rant accused criticism from European news outlets of hypocrisy because of Europe's past, implying that no one in Europe can criticise working conditions of Nepalese migrants working in Qatar because of “three thousand years of history”.

There was so much nonsense in there that it would be a disservice of me to repeat it and I feel sorry for anybody in the room having to listen to and report it. But I feel more sorry, much more sorry, for the families of migrant workers whose relatives didn't just “go to the football and never come back” but paid to go build the grounds and never came back.

If FIFA and Qatar were truly contrite, truly sorry, and understood the impact of their decisions, then they would not be trying to wriggle out of a workers compensation fund for the families of the dead, and for the workers who sweat and bled and got sick building these incongruous monolithic statues of stadiums. Stadiums that now look like symbols of corruption, of slavery, of money. Idols of egos. Grave stones of the nameless.

And so it was, that the world held a collective breath in anticipation.

The opening ceremony itself was, to me, rather placid and devoid of the passion normally associated with these things. Sitting next to me, my fiance couldn't get around the lack of female dancers. And the lack of females in the crowd, especially in the incredibly odd and forced “ultras” type section in the Qatar end.

A rectangular block of the stadium, with men who were all wearing the same shirt, with a choreographer and conductor at the front, directing the chants, claps and dance movements. It remains to be seen whether they were paid employees, but the question is there. They did not look like an average group of ultras.

Giant puppets of the mascots of previous World Cups danced on the field. And most bizarre of all, and this is where the opening ceremony entered into it's most spookiest of scenes – out of the darkness, the Qatar mascot rose gigantic above all the others. I think it's meant to be a stingray, it is the traditional white thobe and black headband, but with a white face made of the thobe. It looks like a ghost, or maybe the Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters.

And it hangs like a spectre over the whole parade. Was this a dream? When the elephant in the room – the dead migrant workers, whose blood has built these stands – manifests into the ghost of the workers hanging above the tournaments opening ceremony, it cemented the feeling more-so, of the shaky, uncharted grounds we are standing on.

The players themselves looked nervous. The Qatari players looked amateurish. Their warm-ups filled with little inaccuracies. This may sound like nitpicking, but to me it's an indication of how little prepared they were. Having watched footballers at the highest level all my life, their movements in warm-ups are fine-tuned. Each extension of the leg – the same as the last – almost robotic. You don't find this in amateur teams.

And as soon as the whistle blew for kick-off you knew that the Qataris were in trouble. It took seven minutes for VAR to rule out an Ecuadorian goal and the drama heightened.

It doesn't take arguably the most corrupt World Cup in history – even before a ball has been kicked – for VAR to make poor decisions. But it is a mechanism where by corruption could seep in. I don't think it was corrupt though. I think VAR is just utterly broken.

It was 2-0 at half time but it could have been five.

Thousands of supposedly football-mad Qataris streamed out of the stands, out of the stadium and didn't return for the second half. Leaving the scene even more surreal. This haunted stadium, the building itself surrounded by nothing but desert, almost completely empty. Pathetic.

Ecuador were in cruise control, no need to get anyone injured or even try too hard. It ended 2-0 with the match recording the joint lowest number of shots of any World Cup game since records began.

Turn the lights off on day one. A lot has been said about, “letting the football talk”, “focusing on the football”. In the end there wasn't much to focus on. $200 billion spent, the Qatari players kept from their clubs for six months. No heroes were made, no shock result, an extraordinary footballing anti-climax.

A final punctuation mark on the first day of the tournament, no better said by an Ecuador fan in the crowd rubbing his index finger and thumb together and taunting the crowd, the stadium, the country, the world with the word, “money” and a huge smile on his face. While several rows behind him an angry Qatari man in a thobe told him to: “shut the f*** up” angrily. The Ecuadorian made his apologies and sat down, looking alarmed at how much vitriol his taunting had produced.

Did these football fanatical Qataris not know the basics of banter? The truth is – it was a farcical loss on the pitch and in the stands for Qatar. They humiliated themselves. They started the day aiming to prove themselves a footballing nation, they ended it the first host country to lose their opening match. Maybe this was all about money after all?

ABOUT

The Qatar World Cup 2022 is potentially the most controversial sporting event since the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A story that is so bizarre and complex, it has sent sport from the back pages, to the front pages, to the long-reads in the middle of newspapers.

Blood on the Sand: Qatar 2022 will track the progress of the World Cup through the World Cup Diary series. A short podcast episode, one per day, covering news from the tournament both on and off the pitch. Followed by a more detailed in-depth look at the history of Qatar, the tournament and how those two collided.

CREDITS

Blood on the Sand is written, produced and performed by Adonis Storr (@theadelites on Twitter).

Cover Art was created with Daan (@DaanGraphics on Twitter and Instagram).

Music by WombatNoisesAudio (https://soundcloud.com/user-734462061) including the tracks The Legend of Narmer and Jewel Of Nekhen. Music was promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com and is used in conjunction with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US.