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Saudi fans put on brave face after World Cup loss to Poland
It was a home crowd for Saudi Arabia on Saturday as it played Poland in its second match at the World Cup.
Despite clear disappointment over the 2-0 loss, Saudi fans were still basking in the glow of their team’s improbable win against Argentina earlier this week, one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
“We’re going to forget what happened today,” said Ahmad al-Khalaf, a 35-year-old from the country’s eastern al-Ahsa region, when asked about the defeat. “For sure, we’re going to beat (Mexico) in the next match as we beat Argentina before.”
Read: ‘Normal thing to do’: Japanese fans tidy up at World Cup
The stadium was a sea of green as stands filled with tens of thousands of Saudi fans, lured across the border by the lingering thrill of their country’s rare World Cup triumph. Men in dark green jerseys and women in lime-hued abayas, their faces painted in the colors of the national flag, cheered each moment a Saudi player kicked the ball. When Poland’s players made a move, boos thundered around the pitch.
Some fans speculated that the sheer size and intensity of the crowd created pressure that hurt the team’s performance. But others reveled in the sense of togetherness.
“The crowd was totally beautiful,” said 25-year-old Malek al-Malki from the port city of Jeddah. “It’s clear we suddenly believe more in our national team.”
Few had predicted that the ultraconservative kingdom, the second lowest-ranked team in the World Cup, would have been swept up in the wildest revelry of the tournament so far. But the kingdom’s affection for the national team reflects the new, more nationalistic Saudi Arabia rising under powerful Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The win over Argentina sparked celebrations across the Arab world, from Cairo to Gaza City in a rare display of Arabi unity.
Read: On outskirts of Doha, laborers watch World Cup they built
That pride and patriotism was undimmed on Saturday, even as crestfallen fans filtered out of the stadium.
“That joy lives forever,” said Osama al-Jamal, a 22-year-old student who drove from Riyadh to watch his team play.
‘Normal thing to do’: Japanese fans tidy up at World Cup
The sight of Japanese fans at a World Cup bagging trash after a match — win or lose — always surprises non-Japanese. Japanese players are famous for doing the same in their team dressing room: hanging up towels, cleaning the floor, and even leaving a thank-you note.
The behavior is driving social media posts at the World Cup in Qatar, but it’s nothing unusual for Japanese fans or players. They are simply doing what most people in Japan do — at home, at school, at work, or on streets from Tokyo to Osaka, Shizuoka to Sapporo.
“For Japanese people, this is just the normal thing to do,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said. “When you leave, you have to leave a place cleaner than it was before. That’s the education we have been taught. That’s the basic culture we have. For us, it’s nothing special.”
A spokeswoman for the Japanese Football Association said it’s supplying 8,000 trash bags to help fans pick up after matches with “thank you” messages on the outside written in Arabic, Japanese, and English.
Barbara Holthus, a sociologist who has spent the last decade in Japan, said cleaning up after oneself is engrained in Japanese culture.
Read: On outskirts of Doha, laborers watch World Cup they built
“You’re always supposed to take your trash home in Japan, because there are no trash cans on the street,” said Holthus, the deputy director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies. “You clean your classroom. From a very young age you learn you are responsible for the cleanliness of your own space.”
Many Japanese elementary schools don’t have janitors, so some of the clean-up work is left to the young students. Office workers often dedicate an hour to spruce up their areas.
“It’s partly cultural, but also the education structures have been training you for a long time to do that,” Holthus added.
This is Japan’s seventh straight World Cup, and their cleanliness began making news at their first World Cup in 1998 in France.
Prior to the 2020 Olympics, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike cautioned that visiting fans would have to learn to clean up after themselves. However, the problem never materialized after fans from abroad were banned from attending the Games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tokyo has few public trash receptacles. This keeps the streets cleaner, saves municipalities the costs of emptying trash cans, and keeps away vermin.
Midori Mayama, a Japanese reporter in Qatar for the World Cup, said that fans collecting rubbish was a non-story back home.
Read: World Cup analysts cite more goals from crosses, penalties
“Nobody in Japan would report on this,” she said, noting the same clean-up happens at Japanese professional baseball games. “All of this is so normal.”
It may be normal to Japanese, but Alberto Zaccheroni, an Italian who coached Japan from 2010 to 2014, said it’s not how most teams act when they travel.
“Everywhere in the world players take their kit off and leave it on the floor in the changing room. Then the cleaning staff come and collect it,” he said. “Not the Japanese players. They put all the shorts on top of the other, all the pairs of socks and all the jerseys.”
On outskirts of Doha, laborers watch World Cup they built
Far from Doha’s luxury hotels and sprawling new World Cup stadiums, scores of South Asian workers poured into a cricket ground in the city’s sandy outskirts to enjoy the tournament they helped create.
Unlike the official FIFA fan zone near Doha’s pristine corniche, this one has no $14 beer or foreign tourists. There are few food options beyond deep-fried Indian snacks, scant soccer jerseys in the crowd and even fewer women.
Instead, the grassy pitch in Asian Town, a neighborhood of labor camps, is packed with migrant workers from some of the world’s poorest countries. They power Qatar, one of the world’s richest, and helped accomplish its multi-billion-dollar stadium-building effort.
Their treatment has been the controversial backstory of the 2022 World Cup, ever since Qatar won the bid to host the soccer championship. They can face low wages, inhospitable housing and long hours, often in the scorching heat.
But on Friday night as the Netherlands played Ecuador, the bleachers of the cricket stadium heaved with workers reveling on their one day off of the week.
The lucky ones scored a small number of World Cup match tickets that went on sale for just 40 riyals ($10) — a special cheaper ticket category for Qatar residents. But for those who can’t afford to go to gleaming stadiums, the giant screens in Asian Town have become a key glimpse into the tournament that has reshaped the tiny emirate.
“Who can afford to go? I keep 400 riyals ($109) a month in my pocket,” said Anmol Singh, an electrician, who sends the rest of his $600 salary to his parents and grandparents in Bihar, eastern India. “I work to give it all to them.”
Read: Japan eye World Cup knockout stage with win against Costa Rica
Even if meager by Western standards, the salaries of migrant workers in Qatar and across the oil-rich sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf often exceed what they could make back home and serve as lifelines for their families in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Workers in the fan zone who spoke to an Associated Press journalist on Friday said they coveted their jobs in the country, which has strict laws on speech. The yearslong boycott of Qatar by four Arab nations also stoked nationalism among the migrant workforce that makes up some 85% of the country’s population.
Kaplana Pahadi, a 21-year-old cleaner from Nepal, strolled through the crowded cricket stadium with three co-workers she called “my family.”
Decked out in a maroon Qatar jersey, scarf and cap, she said she moved to the energy-rich emirate over four years ago to pay medical fees for her mother, who developed heart problems after her father’s death. “She’s always sick,” she said. “I want to help her.”
At half-time, the floodlit stadium became a riot of music and dance. A celebrity Indian emcee whipped up the crowds as Hindi pop blared.
Some men hoisted themselves up on the shoulders of their friends. Others jumped up and down with excitement. Most wore jeans and T-shirts, or cream shalwar kameez — a knee-length shirt with a pair of loose-fitting trousers common in South Asia.
Hundreds took out their phones to film the reverie, smiles spreading as women in LED-lit white dresses traipsed onstage.
It was a stark respite from the daily grind.
“These are people from companies doing hard work,” said Imtiaz Malik, a 28-year-old IT worker from Pakistan, gesturing to the crowds of men. “But any kind of work is good.”
Read: Germany pin hopes on Spain match to avoid early FIFA World Cup exit
He said he misses his family back in Lahore, Pakistan, and wishes he could hear their voices more often. Despite the difficulties, he said, Qatar has become his home, too.
“This country is becoming better,” he said.
The glaring spotlight of the World Cup has compelled Qatar to overhaul its labor system. The country scrapped the kafala system that tied workers’ visas to their jobs and set a minimum wage of 1,000 riyals ($275) a month, among other changes. Still, rights groups argue more needs to be done. Workers can face delayed wages and rack up debt paying exorbitant recruitment fees to land their jobs.
Imran Khan, 28, said many young men in his hometown of Kolkata, India, dream of working in Qatar. He left his parents and brothers behind to search for work in hospitality during the World Cup. But he has yet to find a job.
The competition is fierce and work harder to come by now that the tournament is underway, he said. In the meantime, he spends his days watching matches on the big screens at the cricket stadium next to the mall.
The fan zone allows Khan and legions of other migrant workers to enjoy the World Cup atmosphere just a short walk from their dormitories. It also means they’re not taking the bus into downtown Doha, which is now filled with foreign fans watching games and celebrating.
“I can’t explain the excitement,” Khan said. “It’s unreal.”
World Cup analysts cite more goals from crosses, penalties
More crosses creating more goals. Winning penalties with “total genius” like Cristiano Ronaldo. Pressing opponents to quickly win back the ball.
FIFA’s expert analysts picked their World Cup trends Saturday from the first 16 games after each team played once.
What the Technical Study Group saw was more and better crosses bearing fruit with a big increase in the number of goals — 14 instead of three — coming from wide areas compared to the 2018 tournament at the same stage.
The nine penalty kicks awarded in the first 16 games put this World Cup on track for a record 36 in the entire 64-game tournament. There were 29 given by referees in 2018 when they first had video reviews.
Clever players should get as much credit as new technology, according to Sunday Oliseh, a midfielder who played at two World Cups for Nigeria and is studying games in Qatar for FIFA.
Read: Poland beat Saudis 2-0 at World Cup
“Maybe the strikers are getting smarter? If you look at the penalty that Ronaldo got,” he said about the Portugal star seeming to tempt a Ghana defender into a tackle that was judged a foul.
“People can say what they want about this man, but the smartness and the ingenious thought to just being patient and wait for that split second to touch the ball first before you,” Oliseh said, “and continue my leg so that your contact will hit my leg.”
“That is total genius,” he added.
Ghana coach Otto Addo might disagree. He described the penalty as “ a special gift from the referee.”
Ronaldo got off the turf to open the scoring in Portugal’s 3-2 win, one of the seven penalties converted among the 41 total goals in 16 games through Thursday.
That’s a solid average at a World Cup — a rate of 2.56 per game compared to the record of 2.67 at a full, 64-game tournament.
Helping make up for the four scoreless draws, the FIFA analysts highlighted, was the impressive delivery from wide areas.
The 14 goals stemming from crosses resulted from a better supply in Qatar where 56 crosses have led to goal attempts compared to just 35 in Russia four years ago, FIFA’s analysis said.
Read: Japan eye World Cup knockout stage with win against Costa Rica
Four games without goals — when the first 36 games in 2018 failed to produce a 0-0 draw — can be explained by teams’ caution to avoid losing their first game.
Oliseh said the Portugal-Ghana game was drab until Ronaldo’s penalty “then it became a funfair” with a rush of second-half goals.
“As the tournament progresses we will see teams becoming a bit braver,” said Alberto Zaccheroni, the Italian coach who led Japan at the 2014 World Cup.
Teams that committed to pressing opponents deep in their own half were rewarded with regaining possession in dangerous areas and avoided chasing back toward their own goal, Zaccheroni said.
FIFA data showed England, Spain, Germany and Argentina were most effective at “counter-pressing” tactics many players routinely use at their clubs.
Coaches now having five substitutes meant their teams could keep “physically very taxing” energy levels high for the full game, Zaccheroni said.
Poland beat Saudis 2-0 at World Cup
Robert Lewandowski finally scored at the World Cup on Saturday, helping Poland beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 and boosting his team’s chances of reaching the knockout stages.
Lewandowski shed tears after scoring in the 82nd minute. He raced toward the corner with his arms outstretched, then stayed slumped on the field as teammates rushed to congratulate him. He got up, rubbed his face, and blew a kiss to the crowd.
It was the Poland forward’s first World Cup goal in his fifth appearance at the tournament.
Read: Japan eye World Cup knockout stage with win against Costa Rica
The 34-year-old Lewandowski also set up the opener in the 40th minute when he kept the ball in play after goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais’ initial block, then laid it back for Piotr Zielinski to knock in.
Al-Owais denied Lewandowski from scoring a second goal late in the match.
Poland was scrambling for long periods at the Education City Stadium as the Saudi team was pushed forward by enthusiastic fans in what seemed like a home game.
Read: Germany pin hopes on Spain match to avoid early FIFA World Cup exit
Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny saved Salem Al-Dawsari’s penalty at the end of the first half. He then blocked Mohammed Al-Burayk’s shot from the rebound.
Poland will next face Argentina, while Saudi Arabia will meet Mexico in their last Group C games.
Independence Cup Football: Bashundhara Kings, Sheikh Russell make semifinals
Bashundhara Kings and Sheikh Russell reached the semifinals of the new season's curtain raiser football tournament, the Bashundhara Group Independence Cup 2022, beating opponents in the quarterfinals Friday.
In the semifinals Wednesday, Sheikh Russell will play the winners of the Dhaka Abahani and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi match. Dhaka Abahani and Sheikh Jamal will lock horns in the quarterfinal Sunday.
In the other semifinal Thursday, Bashundhara King will play the winners of the Muktijoddha Sangsad and Bangladesh Police match. Muktijoddha and Police will face each other in another quarterfinal Sunday.
READ: Ind Cup Football: Bashundhara Kings emerge group champions with all win record
The final match will be held on Monday at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Dutta Stadium in Cumilla.
In the day's first quarterfinal, Sheikh Russell beat Chittagong Abahani 1-0 at the Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni Stadium in Gopalganj.
After a barren first half, Nigerian player Sunday Udoh scored the match-winning goal for Sheikh Russel in the 85th minute (1-0).
In the day's other quarterfinal, Bashundhara Kings defeated Dhaka Mohammedan 2-0 at the Birshreshtha Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj.
Local forward Rakib Hossain and Kings' Brazilian striker and captain Robson Robinho scored for the winners, one in each half.
Japan eye World Cup knockout stage with win against Costa Rica
How big was Japan’s 2-1 upset of Germany in the opening round of the World Cup?
Newspapers in Japan used the term “Daikimboshi” from sumo wrestling to describe the magnitude of the surprise: when a low-ranked wrestler overpowers a grand champion.
The victory has also been compared to Japan’s 34-32 upset of powerful South Africa in the 2015 rugby World Cup in England.
Japan was the underdog against four-time champion Germany, but it will be a strong favorite in its next Group E match against Costa Rica, where a victory could move Japan into the knockout stage with a game to spare.
A loss by Costa Rica on Sunday would eliminate it from advancing. Costa Rica faces Germany in its final match and Japan goes against Spain.
Read: Germany pin hopes on Spain match to avoid early FIFA World Cup exit
Costa Rica is reeling from a 7-0 thrashing against Spain in its opener, and it’s anyone’s guess how the Ticos will respond. With a population of just over 5 million, the tiny Central American country is appearing in its sixth World Cup. It reached the quarterfinals in 2014 in Brazil.
Japan has never reached the quarterfinals at a World Cup, and that’s the aim this time. This is Japan’s seventh straight appearance, and it has reached the round of 16 on three occasions, including in Russia in 2018. It lost 3-2 in stoppage time to Belgium after leading 2-0.
It was eliminated by Paraguay on penalties in 2010, and lost to Turkey 1-0 in 2002 when the country co-hosted the event with South Korea.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu has spoken often about going farther this time and breaking the “final-16 hex.”
Substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano scored late goals against Germany — they both play in Germany’s Bundesliga — to lead Japan to the upset. Asano got the winner in the 83rd minute, squeezing the ball behind German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from a very sharp angle.
Read: FIFA World Cup 2022: Brazil with plenty of options to replace Neymar
Costa Rica was overwhelmed by Spain with only 28% of the possession. It would also face the same problem against Japan, which is able to hold the ball for long spells, and is also a quick, counterattacking threat.
“We couldn’t complete three or four passes,” Costa Rica coach Luis Fernando Suarez said of the Spain loss.
The Ticos will have to do much more against Japan.
Germany pin hopes on Spain match to avoid early FIFA World Cup exit
When the World Cup draw came out in April, one of the highlights of the group stage was Sunday’s Spain vs. Germany match at Al Bayt Stadium.
Eight months later, the game between the two former world champions and pre-tournament favorites gained even more prominence thanks to Germany’s surprising loss to Japan in its opener in Qatar.
Another setback against Spain this weekend and Germany may be heading home early for the second straight World Cup. A loss — coupled with at least a draw by Japan against Costa Rica earlier Sunday — will mean elimination for the four-time champions.
Spain, meanwhile, will be looking to secure its spot in the next stage and reinforce its status as one of the top title contenders following an impressive 7-0 rout of Costa Rica in its opener.
The signs are not encouraging for Germany. Its most recent match against Spain was an embarrassing 6-0 defeat in the Nations League two years ago. Its last win against “La Roja” came in a friendly eight years ago.
Germany won its fourth World Cup title in 2014 in Brazil but didn’t make it out of the group stage in 2018 after losses to South Korea and México. It would be the first time it fails to advance past the group stage in back-to-back tournaments.
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Spain won its lone World Cup in 2010 in South Africa and was eliminated in the round of 16 in 2018 in Russia. A win against Germany will allow Spain to reach the last 16 if Costa Rica doesn’t defeat Japan.
Expectations around Spain’s young squad were raised after its outstanding performance against Costa Rica, when the team reintroduced “tiki-taka” ball-possession style and 18-year-old Gavi became the youngest World Cup scorer since Pelé in 1958.
The seven goals it scored against Costa Rica matched Spain’s tournament total from Russia in 2018.
“The result gives us a big boost,” Spain coach Luis Enrique said. “But now we have to play against a Germany team that needs the victory.”
Luis Enrique said he wasn’t concerned with his young players being overly confident, and promised to make changes to the starting lineup for Sunday’s match, without elaborating.
Winger Leroy Sané could return for Germany after missing the match against Japan because of a knee injury. He was back in training on Friday, when Germany coach Hansi Flick was able to work with his full 26-player squad.
Read: Poland vs Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup 2022 LIVE Streaming: Where and how to watch online and on TV Channel, predicted XI
It will be the fifth meeting between the powerhouses at World Cups, with Spain winning the most recent one 1-0 in the semifinals of the 2010 tournament.
Spain hasn’t lost to Germany in official competitions since the 1988 European Championship, with two draws and three wins since then.
The Germans have lost three of their last four World Cup matches dating to the tournament in Russia.
They made headlines even before kickoff against Japan by covering their mouths to protest FIFA’s clampdown on the “One Love” armbands. It was not clear if they would repeat the gesture before the Spain match.
Australia beat Tunisia 1-0 to stay in World Cup
Australia only needed to avoid defeat to stay in the World Cup. The Socceroos did more than that in a 1-0 win over Tunisia on Saturday.
Mitchell Duke gave Australia the lead midway through the first half with a header and Australia went on to register its first win at soccer’s biggest event since a victory over Serbia back in 2010.
The result means Australia still has a chance to qualify for the round of 16, despite losing 4-1 to defending champion France in their opening match.
France and Australia lead Group D with three points each, while Denmark and Tunisia have one point each.
France was playing Denmark later.
In the final round of group games on Wednesday, Tunisia plays France and Australia meets Denmark.
After a scrappy start from both sides, Australia went ahead with a play out of the back from its goalkeeper. Duke collected the goalkeeper’s pass near mid-field and made a quick touch to set Craig Goodwin down the left flank and Duke then sprinted forward to nod Goodwin’s deflected cross into the far corner.
Duke celebrated by making a ‘J’ with his fingers in a tribute to his son, Jaxson, who was in the stands.
The goal quieted the large contingent of red-clad Tunisia fans among the crowd of 41,823 inside Al Janoub Stadium, and sent the small pockets of Australian supporters dressed in yellow into delirium.
Tunisia impressed when it held European Championship semifinalist Denmark to a 0-0 draw in its opener but only occasionally threatened against Australia until the Aussies sat back and defended toward the end.
Australia had also gotten off to an early 1-0 lead over France in its opener but then was outplayed in a loss which it blamed on a series of defensive errors.
There were fewer errors this time, and some timely interventions, too – none bigger than a last-gasp sliding clearance from center back Harry Souttar to block Mohamed Dräger’s dangerous shot shortly before halftime.
Tunisia is still seeking to advance from the group stage for the first time in its sixth World Cup appearance but now needs to beat France.
During the second half, Tunisia fans held aloft a large Palestinian flag with the words, “Free Palestine” printed on it.
FIFA World Cup 2022: Brazil with plenty of options to replace Neymar
With Neymar out for at least another match, Brazil coach Tite must now start thinking about a replacement - and this time he has plenty of options.
Brazil is not as Neymar-dependent as it used to be, and Tite could go several different ways to replace the Paris Saint-Germain forward for Monday’s Group G match against Switzerland.
Neymar hurt his right ankle in Brazil’s opening 2-0 win against Serbia on Thursday. He has ligament damage and team doctors have not given a timetable for his recovery — or said if he will be able to recover at all.
Tite brought nine forwards to the World Cup, and could also add a midfielder as Neymar’s replacement if wanted.
The most straightforward option would be to use Rodrygo in Neymar’s position, keeping Raphinha, Vinícius Júnior and Richarlison in attack. Rodrygo playes more as an attacker at Real Madrid, but he has trained in Neymar’s “No. 10” playmaking position while with Brazil in Qatar.
Read: France vs Denmark FIFA World Cup 2022 LIVE Streaming: Where and how to watch online and on TV Channel, predicted XI
Another alternative would be to put an extra midfielder in Neymar’s position — Manchester United’s Fred or Newcastle’s Bruno Guimarães, for example — freeing up attacking midfielder Lucas Paquetá, who played closer to defensive midfielder Casemiro against Serbia.
Another attacking midfielder available to Tite is Everton Ribeiro, while the other forwards in the squad are Gabriel Jesus, Antony, Gabriel Martinelli and Pedro.
Neymar attracted most of the attention from the tough Serbian defense, which kept roughing him up from the start. He was fouled nine times during the game, the most by any player at the World Cup in the first round of matches in the group stage.
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Neymar is Brazil’s second-best all-time scorer with 75 goals, two behind Pelé’s record with the national team. The last time he was out at a World Cup — because of a back injury sustained in the quarterfinals against Colombia in 2014 — Brazil went on to get embarrassed by Germany 7-1 in the semifinals.
Tite won’t be able to count on right back Danilo, who also sprained his ankle against Serbia. Danilo’s replacement will likely be veteran Daniel Alves, although Tite could also use central defender Éder Militão in the position.
Brazil, seeking its first World Cup title in two decades, faces Cameroon in its last group match. It can reach the round of 16 in advance with a win on Monday if Cameroon doesn’t defeat Serbia in the other group match.