Opinion – Juca Kfouri: The worst best Cup in history

I’m talking about the World Cups I covered and inform you that I wasn’t in Argentina, in 1978, under one of the cruelest dictatorships of the second half of the 20th century.

This World Cup in Qatar, from a footballing point of view, was neither better nor worse than the previous ones, although it was expected, as we are in the middle of the European season, a better level.

But it was Lionel Messi’s Cup, and that’s enough in terms of excellence, and it was also Kylian Mbappé’s Cup.

If there were villains in Qatar, it wasn’t any of the participants in the final, even if Otamendi was a strong contender when he took that stupid penalty. He ended up saved, because champion.

The villains were more for what some said and did off the field, like the episode of the golden barbecue and the new demonstration of how enjoyable this Kaká is, who left the corrupt church for the world of futility, to become a cheerleader sommelier, saying Brazilians cannot support Argentina. Here is a character who fooled half the world, including the columnist.

From an organizational point of view, the Cup bordered on perfection.

Everything worked, the subway is excellent, the stadiums are beautiful, it’s a shame that Fifa turns them into discotheques to the point of drowning out the cheering crowd. The cleanliness and equipment of the bathrooms, a separate high note, and, in December, bearable heat and even cold at night.

Even the issue of alcoholic beverages, despite being very expensive, also because everything is expensive for Guedes and Bolsonaro’s real, found conciliatory solutions. And the press was treated like sponge cake, perhaps a bet by the monarchs so that only the golden side of the pill would be seen.

Doha is a spectacularly aseptic, artificial, unwelcoming, discriminatory, suffocating city for anyone who is not part of the local millionaire elite, and it works like clockwork, at the expense of who knows what, of an oppressive, prejudiced regime, which makes a clean slate of human rights.

The public success and the geopolitical victory were undeniable, putting Qatar definitively on the world map —and rare readers should not be alarmed if they find out in the coming days that the cost of the luxury of the Cup, of the waste to impress how, in fact, impressively, it is more than covered by the sale of Qatari gas provoked by the ruthless Russian invasion of Ukraine.

If I had to make a summary about whether the marathon in the Middle East was worth it, I would say the following: visiting the Islamic Museum was worth it, simply jaw-dropping; for having seen live, in person, the magical moment in which Lionel became Manoel, in which Mané Messi, Lionel Garrincha were born, and, finally, for being at the Monumental de Lusail, in Bombonera do Qatar, on the night of the biggest decision in the history of the 22 World Cups alongside a privileged 90,000.

As the French newspaper Le Figaro so well defined, it was “époustouflant”, breathtaking. What word!

MESSI x PELE

As the ruler is always the King, the conversation started again about who is better, Pelé or Messi.

The same question has already been asked between Eusébio and Pelé, Cruijff and Pelé, Maradona and Pelé.

Then, the Portuguese colleague Hugo Tavares asked for the definition of Pelé in one word and heard: “Pelé is Pelé. Michael Jordan is the Pelé of basketball. Muhammad Ali is the Pelé of boxing. Beethoven is the Pelé of classical music. Picasso is Pelé of painting. And Pelé is the Pelé of soccer”.

The journalist did not say whether he will limit himself to “Pelé is Pelé”.

Happy 2023, and until then, nobody is made of iron.