FIFA World Cup 2022: Can Qatar do justice to its status as the host team

FIFA World Cup 2022: Qatar is the first World Cup host in the Middle East.

Only twice before in the 92-year history of the football World Cup has the tournament been held outside Europe or the Americas. On both occasions, South Korea and Japan in 2002 and South Africa in 2010, the hosts have turned in gritty performances. Which is why soccer fans will be eyeing with some trepidation how hosts Qatar fare in FIFA World Cup 2022.

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As part of recent tradition, the host nation kicks off the tournament and Qatar will be up first. They could consider themselves somewhat unlucky since they play Ecuador which is ranked 44 in the world but has thrice before played at this stage and even reached the Round of 16 in Germany in 2006.

Pre-tournament rankings, though, have often been nullified by hosts who rose to the occasion. In the 2018 FIFA World Cup, hosts Russia were ranked a lowly 70 before the tournament but the team went all the way to the quarter-finals before bowing out to eventual finalists Croatia on penalties. To be fair, Russia’s ranking reflected its recent underperformance and dimmed its great showing in the past which included a fourth place finish in England in 1966 as well as winning the inaugural edition of UEFA European Championship in 1960.

By contrast, Qatar, which joined FIFA only in 1963, has so far achieved very little on the field to merit much attention as a footballing nation. Indeed, before it decided to bid for the world’s biggest sporting event, its best performance was winning the Asian Games gold in 2006. Its campaign to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a bit of a fiasco since it finished bottom of its group. That failure ensured that it would play its first World Cup match on home soil in the ongoing tournament, the first team to do so since Italy in 1934. It did win the 2019 Asian Cup in style, beating Japan in the finals. So there is some possibility that it will carry the form into the World Cup.

Qatar’s idol should be South Africa, which just five years after its readmission to global football following the apartheid years, won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations and also qualified for its first appearance at the FIFA World Cup in France 1998. While it went down to eventual champion France, it drew against its other group opponents Denmark and Saudi Arabia. Despite its early exit, the team showed it belonged on the biggest stage. It went one better in the next edition in 2002, notching up its first ever win, over Slovenia, and also giving heavyweights Spain a scare in one of the most rousing performances from an underdog before going down 2-3. It failed to make it to the next round but had done enough to win the hearts of soccer fans across the world.

A slump in form thereafter meant that when the first ever tournament to be held in Africa arrived in 2010, not much was expected from the Bafana Bafana. But in a strong group comprising Mexico, eventual semi-finalists Uruguay and former world champions France, South Africa rose admirably to the occasion. A 1-1 draw with Mexico and a defeat to Uruguay later, the hosts met formidable France, one of the world’s top teams. A 2-1 victory though not enough to take South Africa to the next round, went a long way in proving its credentials.

The only other time the World Cup was played in Asia was in 2002 when South Korea and Japan co-hosted it. At the time the tournament was awarded to the two countries in 1996, Japan had never qualified for a World Cup final (though it did subsequently qualify for the 1998 competition). Both the host nations topped their pools ahead of fancied teams like Portugal and Belgium. While Japan’s run ended in the next round, South Korea stormed into the semi-finals after beating Italy and Spain. Eventually the team went down to Germany but it had been a magnificent performance by a host team which till then had never gone past the group stage in its five previous attempts.

Can Qatar live up to the standards set by these hosts? The stakes are very high since if it disappoints, it will lend further credence to the accusation that giving the country the rights to host the tournament was a big mistake.