Not a fan of Qatar and aware of numerous potential and obvious downsides (debilitating summer heat above all), we have always kept an open mind about a World Cup in the Middle East, once the hosting rights were allotted.
The opposition towards the tiny Emirate has always been virulent. Even during the bidding phase, critics from all sorts of corners crept out from all sorts of rocks built on bias. Others, genuine ones without an agenda, voiced their concerns openly, understandably and with genuine points that did make sense.
Eight years. The Qatar World Cup is slated for 2022 – not this year, or 2018 where another favourite foe of many, Russia, is about to crumble under the newly invented ‘Cold War 2.0’. Or, is it?