World Cup 2022 updates: Festive mood in Doha as arrivals increase

With less than 24 hours to go before the World Cup 2022 officially kicks off, here is a list of some firsts for the tournament.

Offside technology

In July, football’s world governing body, FIFA, announced the use of a semiautomated offside system at the World Cup to help make fast and accurate offside calls.

Substitutions

Teams will be allowed five substitutions in each game as opposed to three from the previous World Cup in Russia in 2018.

Read more here.

As the night went on, there was no sign of the energy and festivities in Katara Cultural Village abating.

Thousands of fans thronged the streets holding flags of nations they support – in some cases, carrying more than one – accompanied by music and festive performances.

Ghana’s national football team captain Andre Ayew is confident that the Black Stars will be a tough team to beat at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar on November 20.

The Ghana squad has to be fit in order to put on the performance he’s hoping for, Ayew, who plays for Al Sadd football club in Qatar’s capital Doha, emphasised.

After missing the 2018 tournament, the Black Stars qualified for this year’s event, where they are in the same group as South Korea, Portugal and Uruguay, the team that knocked them out of the 2010 edition in South Africa.

Al Jazeera spoke to Ayew here about the national side’s preparation, chances and expectations, as well as the benefit of his experience playing in Qatar.

Striker Karim Benzema was forced to leave France’s training session because of an injury in what is potentially a major blow for the defending champions three days before their World Cup opener, L’Equipe reported.

The Ballon d’Or winner, who has been struggling with a muscle problem, and central defender Raphael Varane, who is recovering from a knee issue, trained with the squad on Saturday for the first time since they arrived in Qatar.

Après avoir participé à une partie de l'entraînement avec les « titulaires » ce samedi, Karim Benzema est sorti blessé https://t.co/FlWUAxCdmh pic.twitter.com/p8EgwaZUvb

— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) November 19, 2022

L’Equipe said that Benzema did not last the full session after sustaining an injury, the nature and severity of which is not yet known.

France, already without influential midfielders Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante for the tournament because of injury, open their campaign against Australia in a Group D match on Tuesday.

A World Cup jammed into the middle of the European season isn’t ideal, especially for the United States.

Injuries and idleness run throughout the roster ahead of Monday’s match against Wales.

Weston McKennie, Sergino Dest and Luca de la Torre missed time, and Christian Pulisic and Matt Turner are among those struggling for playing time with their clubs. Defenders Walker Zimmerman and Aaron Long enter the US’s first World Cup match in eight years on layoffs of more than a month after the end of their Major League Soccer seasons.

“This is going to be a dogfight,” McKennie said. “When everyone’s on all cylinders and fighting for each other and you see little fights on the field and everybody’s just fired up and ready to go, those are the times that I think we’ve played at our best.”

Japanese players shared their determination for the tournament on the eve of the World Cup.

“I think the World Cup is a special stage for football players,” Yuto Nagatomo said.

This is Japan’s seventh World Cup appearance, and they have reached the round of 16 on three occasions.

The “Samurai Blue” will begin their campaign in Qatar with a game against Germany on 23rd November before taking on Costa Rica and then Spain in their remaining Group E fixtures.

Cameroon, headed by Samuel Eto’o, the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation, have landed in Doha.

The Indomitable Lions aim to advance beyond the group stage for the first time since Italy 1990.

This time round, Cameroon are banking on coach Rigobert Song who was appointed in February after the African Cup of Nations finals.

Also the country’s most capped player with four World Cup tournaments under his belt, Song was appointed in February after the African Cup of Nations finals.

Cameroon are up against Switzerland in their Group G opener on November 24.

Colombian superstar Maluma performed several songs at the FIFA Fan Festival.

Earlier, the singer walked out of an interview with an Israeli channel after being repeatedly asked about human rights violations in Qatar.

“It’s something I can’t resolve,” Maluma said. “I just came here to enjoy life, enjoy soccer.”

He then walked out and called the interviewer “rude”.

The 2004 African champions, Tunisia have never made it out of the group stage in their last five World Cup finals appearances.

Manchester United’s Hannibal Mejbri, currently on a loan spell at Birmingham City, is waiting for the opportunity to shine for his country on the largest of stages.

He is familiar with the World Cup stadiums as he played the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar, together with Seifeddine Jaziri who then won after scoring four goals.

The 19-year-old Mejbri is yet to score for Tunisia after 18 games.

Eagles of Carthage kick off their Group D against Denmark on the 22nd November, they then meet Australia on the 26th, before finishing the stage against title-holders France on the 30th.

Fans were treated to a spectacular fireworks show at Doha’s Corniche boulevard. Drones formed the image of the World Cup trophy in the night sky, before a welcome message greeting people was spelled out.

In Katara Cultural Village, performers in various costumes dazzled crowds with their moves, and a two-member Ecuadorian band serenaded people with their music.

Denmark’s star midfielder Christian Eriksen said it feels “very special” to be part of a World Cup, just 17 months on from having a cardiac arrest while playing for his country at Euro 2020.

Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s opening European Championship game against Finland in June last year and received life-saving treatment.

The 30-year-old’s career looked to be over, but after being fitted with a device to regulate his heart, he returned to play within six months and is again leading Denmark’s hopes at a major tournament – the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar – after returning to elite club action at English Premier League side Brentford and now Manchester United, who he signed with in July.

Denmark start their World Cup Group D campaign against Tunisia on Tuesday before they take on defending champions France and then Australia.

Qatari transport operators Mowasalat say they will run some 4,000 buses during the World Cup, of which about 3,000 will be dedicated to transporting fans to and from metro stations and stadiums, among other services.

More than 800 of these vehicles are fully electric, operating with zero carbon emissions.

Hayya Card holders can also use for free the newly built metro rail system which has three lines and covers 37 stations.

All eight World Cup stadiums are located within a 50km (31-mile) radius of Doha. During the group stages of the tournament, most days will feature up to four games.

While organisers say the “compact” nature of the event will allow people to watch multiple matches a day, critics argue that an expected influx of more than 1 million people could lead to major congestion on the streets, making it more difficult for people to move around.

The atmosphere at the FIFA Fan Festival is gearing up, with thousands of people including families enjoying and dancing to the music played by a number of DJs.

Argentinian fans are particularly boisterous, waving their country’s home flags and banners featuring star player Lionel Messi.

Colombian superstar Maluma and Lebanese singer Myriam Fares will perform the Fan Festival anthem, Tukoh Taka, later on.

Juventus’s Dusan Vlahovic, Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic and the rest of the Serbia national football team have arrived in Doha.

Coach Dragan Stojkovic hopes his sharp-shooting front can make it third time lucky in Qatar by getting past the group stage for the first time in their history.

Since their inception as an independent nation, Serbia have crashed out at the group stage in both 2010 and in Russia four years ago.

Serbia are up against heavy-weight Brazil in their Group G opener on November 24.

They then take on Cameroon four days later in a potential do-or-die, before wrapping up against Switzerland on December 2.

FIFA’s new insights into player performances based on a variety of metrics will change the way the game is viewed but players must not try to alter their style or hold themselves back as a result, former Arsenal coach and pundit Arsene Wenger said.

FIFA is sharing in-depth match data, graphics and video from every World Cup match in Qatar with all participating teams, as well as fans and media, through a new performance analysis service that can analyse trends in the game.

With several analysts working to collect data on every player over 90 minutes, the service will have a “player dashboard” where anyone can analyse any player’s performance in detail.

Wenger said players should still take risks without thinking twice about how that might affect their metrics.

“It is a risk [where] players can become too conscious of the data. The science of the game must be used in a positive way to encourage players to take audacious risks.”

Abdul Kareem, 50, is a Scottish-Senegalese dual national who is in Qatar to cheer for Senegal.

“I bought my flight ticket before Senegal beat Egypt and qualified,” he said. “I knew they can do it. Now I have 16 games to go to for the next three weeks.”

Also known as Scott, the 50-year-old admitted he should be in Senegal as his wife gave birth yesterday.

“But I have to be here to support the national team,” he said. “Football is life!”

Judith Orosco, a 37-year-old Ecuadorean national who lived in Doha 12 years, said the city feels like home now but anticipated a 3-2 win for her national team at the opening game against Qatar on Sunday.

Antonio Richards, 49, is from Ecuador and is very excited before his country’s opening match against Qatar.

He has tickets for four matches and he plans on going to all of the fan zones in the 18 days he is staying in Qatar.

“This is my first time in the country and it looks magical,” he said.

Football chants have been echoing around Doha’s Hamad International Airport as more fans arrive before Sunday’s kickoff.

“Everyone is super excited,” Al Jazeera’s Sarah Khairat reported from the airport.

“People are really getting into the groove of World Cup,” she said, adding that organisers say “they are ready” for the 1.3 million fans that are due to arrive.

Ecuador will face Qatar in the tournament’s opener, due to be held at Al Bayt Stadium at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Sunday.

“We are so excited to be here,” said an Ecuadorean fan after a trip that lasted more than 24 hours, with stops in Madrid and Paris.

“We look forward to winning this game and start this World Cup in the best way,” the fan added.