A tale of ‘two World Cups’: Messi, Mbappé and ‘money well spent’ for Qatar
Qatar “isn’t alone in crafting this game plan” though, said Daniel Rouse on The Score. Its Gulf neighbours are also “trying to boost their respective images” through sports, and money “isn’t much of an obstacle” in a region where fossil fuels were discovered throughout the 20th century.
After the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the World Cup in Qatar, “the Year of Sportswashing comes to an end”, said Scott Stinson in the Toronto Sun. The big question now is how long before Fifa does it again? Saudi Arabia is rumoured to be “leading a potential joint bid” for the 2030 World Cup and that particular kingdom “has not been subtle about splashing around its wealth on sporting ventures”. It’s “not hard to imagine” the Saudis deciding that they want a “gleaming new 80,000-seat stadium” in Riyadh to host a World Cup final and it’s not hard to imagine that Fifa, “which is no one’s idea of a model for ethical governance”, would at least be “receptive to the idea”.
Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi in action during the World Cup final
Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
‘Two adopted sons’ star in a classic
There has “always been two World Cups” at Qatar 2022, said Barney Ronay in The Guardian. First, “the one Qatar built out of human wastage”, the one that has held “a mirror up not only to the depravity of big sport”, but to a global labour market that “drives migrant workers into lucrative near-captivity” – a system Qatar did not create, which it has “simply embodied with manic hypercompetence”. Then there is the “other World Cup”, the spectacle that brings “joy and drama”, and that “feeling of collectivism”. And which Messi’s brilliance has “elevated into one of the great sporting stories”.
Billed as “Messi vs. Mbappé”, this was the “dream World Cup final” for Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said Jesús Mata in Spanish newspaper Marca. The duo are team-mates at Paris Saint-Germain, a club that has been owned by Qatar Sports Investments since 2011.
In the final, which ended 3-3 after extra-time before Argentina’s 4-2 triumph on penalties, Messi scored two and Mbappé scored three in a match full of end-to-end action. As well as lifting the trophy for the first time in his career, while dressed in a traditional Arab robe, Messi was also awarded the golden ball for the tournament’s best player. Mbappé, already a World Cup winner in 2018 with France, took home the golden boot for top goalscorer after his eight at Qatar 2022. It was a small consolation for scoring the first World Cup final hat-trick since Geoff Hurst’s for England in 1966.
So, “it turns out you can buy football history”, said James Olley on ESPN. With the “two adopted sons” of Qatari-owned PSG at the “epicentre of a pulsating, breathless 120 minutes”, it really could not have been “scripted more perfectly” for the host nation.
Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/sport/football/958966/a-tale-of-two-world-cups-messi-mbappe-money-well-spent-for-qatar