Bla bla bla

There is a certain amused confusion in listening to FIFAs critics, now that FIFA have proposed a new more commercial mode of managing the organization after a hugely succesful World Cup, not least commercially. 

UEFA, who came out vociferously as the defender of community football, is hardly a small, altruistic grassroots organization: It runs the most lucrative club competition in the world through the UEFA Champions League, negotiates billion-euro media rights contracts, and behaves as much like a commercial enterprise as FIFA does (and let us not forget that Gianni Infantino himself, as Secretary General of UEFA, oversaw big commercially successful expansion for UEFA as well). 

Many national associations and other FIFA critics appear to be themselves perfectly happy to benefit from the enormous revenues generated by football. "Commercialization is fine when we do it." 

Football may be a public good, but it is clear that UEFA and FIFA packages it to their benefit; they organize and sell tournaments that we all love to purchase and criticize (one of the most important things on their product). 

We buy the apple, happily eat it, and then complain about its price and quality, but we still buy the same apple day after day…

Now, I have not studied the proposal, but truth is that this NGO that manages football, huge income and commercial deals, with no public funding, probably needs to change something. Governments routinely work with private companies, sovereign wealth funds, investment funds, and corporations managing sums far larger than FIFA's revenues. The argument that "private capital is involved, therefore this is unacceptable" is not, by itself, very convincing. The more relevant question is whether the governance structure protects the interests of the sport and us supporters. 

And that is the only part where criticism is valid: FIFA is an NGO with regulatory powers over world football. It is simultaneously referee, legislator, organizer, and commercial actor. When such an organization proposes a model that brings in private investors or adopts corporate structures, we should worry that maximizing revenues could increasingly drive sporting decisions. This is a legitimate concern.

It is just a pity that FIFA reform is not part of the criticism from football associations and others who themselves lack credibility. 

The proposal from FIFA may not be good, the process may have lacked transparency, I don’t know. But I think that maybe this is the occasion to discuss what FIFA should become, and not continue like it does now. Gianni Infantino was brought in with the support of UEFA to make reforms, but now it seems UEFA does not even want to discuss reforms, if it threatens their own interests and European commercial control of global football.

Finally, let us not be fooled that anybody frankly cares about the fans. Why should they? We will still be buying the product!

Afterthought

I did not care much about the final as I was traveling. That said, from what I have seen, it was war, just as I had predicted; a match for the times. Good Spain won, the best team, and it is always good that the best team wins. 

But I think that the final is a sad reflection of a tournament that has lost its magic, at least for me. I never found that magic; on the contrary, I became more and more disillusioned by the bickering, hate and media. That said, I admit I am probably an old nostalgic fart, since it is clear that the tournament was perfect for the society today, and FIFA are brilliant at creating the narrative, the atmosphere and excitement that the world needs in difficult times.

So let me congratulate the World Champions of Spain, but most of all, congratulate FIFA for the best World Cup in history. 

It is just not for me.

War!

I was happy to see Argentina win against England, despite the fact that I no longer live or enjoy football as I used to, and probably never will as I enter the winter of my life.

I have seen it all, been hurt and sad, especially in this tournament, so I was expecting nothing from the semifinal, except the hope of seeing a fair and good match between great sportsmen, and no references to history of politics (where I am frankly also much more knowledgeable than the idiotic rabble).

As expected it was dramatic nevertheless, more intense than pretty, but fair enough. 

As many say that the entire tournament is fixed, they should probably look towards England, who had everything to win the match after going ahead 0-1 by the new Barcelona player, Anthony Gordon. But instead of pressing for another goal, England decided to defend deep, giving away the entire match to the Argentinean World Champions, and notably Messi, who after a poor match, suddenly had space and time to create perfect passes into the English area; the little master (whose skills I do not know how FIFA has fixed) provided the assists for both Enzo Fernandez’ and Lauraro Martinez’ goals.

Spain-Argentina in the final; the two best amid the top four in the world who made it to the semifinals in a tournament that despite 48 teams lacked real surprises (frankly, Cape Verde and DR Congo were not surprises). Two sides that have much in common, whose players in many cases know one another, and specially Messi, who is facing many players he knew as kids in Barcelona. Two different sides, two different cultures, two different nations.

It would be a beautiful story if I believed in any of the beauty. Instead what I see is two sides, two countries, that hate one another. 

This is war by other means, nothing else, and as any war, it sells, the rabble loves it. I have one prediction: it will be ugly, it will be violent, and whoever loses, will not accept it, because what characterises the world of today, is accusing the others of cheating whenever you do not win.

I have been wrong all along

I have been wrong all along. I have mistakenly blamed FIFA for the wrongs of football, but truth is that the wrongs of football are the wrongs of our societies at large, and FIFA are the best guardians of the game in an imperfect world. 

Because contrary to what I have previously and wrongfully argued for, FIFA has been instrumental in keeping the game alive at a time when new generations are increasingly looking to other pass-times and the competition for dominance among various sports is vicious. 

The main problem with football is not FIFA.

In a world where borders are being redrawn and nationalism is surging amid dangerous geo-political and economic competition, FIFA has managed to exploit these interests to carve a significant space for a sport that real fans may love, but that also gets all the attention of a rabble of people who know nothing about the game - FIFA exploits their ignorance. 

It is frustrating for real football fans that every four years suddenly every idiot around us is an expert, and that expertise is based on their stereotypes, rather than the interest in the game in between years. 

We, the real football fans own the game, yes, but we need someone like FIFA to manage the game in a world of power politics and social media. Because what would otherwise be the alternative? A chaotic world of different small federations with different agendas and interests; the conflicts would be eternal and even dangerous if FIFA were not there to centralize the interests of the game at global level. 

Surely FIFA can do some things better, but if anything, this tournament has shown that they are willing to listen to criticism, learn and to adapt along the way, ultimately to the best interest of Global Football. FIFA is not the one bitching that everything is against them, but conveniently functions a scapegoat for all the rabble who frankly do not belong in a stadium and can in my view be charged millions for going to the stadium. Because let us face it: if prices were 1 dollar a ticket, then some fucking moron would buy all 1 dollar tickets before any real fan got hold of them. 

I have reservations on FIFA expanding the tournament to 64 teams. I am old-fashioned and believe quality would suffer. I find this already happened in this tournament, but I also admit that the vast majority of the world likes it and is willing to pay for it, as much as it annoys me that this vast rabble of a pitiful majority knows nothing but to cheer for their “imagined community”. But it is good for football, because it brings more money in to promote the game at global scale and give us real fans more experiences and joy. All of this despite our misgiving. 

FIFA has problems, like any other organisation, yes, but it is the best guardian of the game we could hope for, and must continue its great and challenging work and be better to resist the attacks by politicians, media and the rabble.

Boycott the World Cup

In a recent post I have stated how disappointed and sad I am about this World Cup. You can now add the FIFAs pandering to politicians to the list. 

Folarin Balogun was given a red card against Bosnia-Hercegovina. According to the rules, a red card means an automatic suspension in the next match, meaning that the US top-scorer would not play  Belgium when the USA faces them in the next match. The US Secretary of State called for FIFA to lift the suspension, and lo-and-behold, today they lifted the ban on Balogun, getting a big thanks from the US President along the way.

FIFAs possible favouritism had already been announced while lifting a suspension on the Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo when entering the tournament, but this is the first time it has been lifted during an ongoing tournament and with such obvious interference.

So much is wrong with this tournament, and I sadly see no other option than to boycott it. By just watching it I feel that am condoning all the bad things about this World Cup; we are as guilty as FIFA by following it. Criticism is not enough, but something must be done to end this systematic destruction of the game that real football fans love.

So this will be my last World Cup 2026 post, and I strongly urge everyone to stop watching the World Cup, no matter who you support or how your team is doing.

Would you not want them to compete in a fair competition anyway...? 

Stop watching and celebrating

I am not naive about football. It is moved by money, by interests, and referees and players can be bought. Declans Hill’s great book, “The Fix”, widely documents a history of match fixing going back to the 1930s to the early 2000s. 

I cannot comment on the possibility of corruption in this World Cup, but contrary to popular belief there is one thing I am certain about: FIFA has not fixed the tournament for a particular team to win. All FIFA cares about is money, and that money is the same whoever wins; in fact, surprises by “smaller” nations is probably even better for FIFA than the usual teams winning, as it brings in more interest from people who may not have watched. If any country should have an advantage in the tournament, it is the home teams, where the bulk of money is being earned during the tournament, but nobody has yet accused Mexico, Canada or USA of being future World Champions. And nobody mentions the favorable referee decisions for “smaller” countries as proof; instead if your team wins it is because they were good, if they lose, it is the referee’s and FIFAs fault. 

Nothing is ever your own fault because you are perfect, your country is perfect and your football team is perfect.

That is the pure true ugly nationalism of football fans.

In the meantime many matches of teams had some very questionable situations that could suspiciously fall into the categories that Declan Hill documented; players from sides that have less attention make strange mistakes and drops in certain core situations. 

I have often criticized FIFA. I am no romantic about it. But you are a fool if you think the entire tournament is fixed.

If not, why the fuck are you watching? Or even celebrating?

The Fantastic Orange

The official FIFA fan zones are absolutely horrible. In Guadalajara and in Mexico City they have placed them in front of the Cathedral, in the central parts of the city, and they totally get in the way of the  architecture and views of these beautiful places. It is tasteless and without charm, and also lack the local cultural flavour, that is only added by the fans. 

But without FIFAs commercial interests, some places set up local fans zones, as the one I found myself in yesterday, in Coyoacan; it included a decoration of skeletons playing and local foodstalls and a more relaxed atmosphere.

It was here I was fortunate to watch a fantastic Netherlands side destroy a hapless Sweden side that went on the pitch without any direction. A three-line defense was immediately overwhelmed by an orange machine, who within 17 minutes was ahead 2-0 on two goals by the Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey, who could become one of the great players of the tournament. 

The unnecessary hydration break never came better for any team as it did for Sweden, who clearly returned to the game both hydrated and better organized, and a 4-man defense. Sweden had a couple of shots and more control, but it was clear that the Netherlands were a far better team, and they sealed a nearly-perfect first half with a 2-0 lead.

Second half almost started the same way: ten minutes into it, Cody Gakpo had scored twice, and with a 4-0 lead, the Netherlands relaxed a bit, and the match in fact became quite entertaining as the West Ham striker Anthony Elanga came on for Sweden, and the match opened with chances on both sides. Anthony Elanga indeed scored a consolation for Sweden, but in the end Crysencio Summerville, who had come on in the second half to set up Cody Gakpo, scored an excellent closing goal for the Netherlands.

Crysencio Summerville appeared to get a head injury at the end of the match, but hope that he is ready for the next match, as the West Ham player is surely one of the ones to watch in the tournament.

5-1 cancelled all of Sweden's goal difference from their victory over Tunisia in the first match, and they are looking at a difficult last group match against Japan (who defeated Tunisia 4-0). But the best thing was the Netherlands; a fantastic side that must be one of the candidates for the title for any neutral fan who loves good football.

 

Walk through the desert of World Cup ticketing

I am one of millions of people who have tried to get tickets for the World Cup. And this is just the people with sufficient income who can hope to make it; the ticket prices effectively put 95% of the world's football fans from even consider going to the World Cup, and it seems understandable that Mexico's president, Ms. Claudia Scheinbaum, has announced that she will not attend the opening match, but give the ticket to an indigenous woman. 

In general I understand FIFA; they are non-profit organization, but want to make money from the tournament to better promote football for the fans... That said, considering the hundreds of millions that they make from sponsors and TV deals, would it not be better to do a more "democratic" ticketing system, that is both transparent, accessible for the majority of fans, and with price ceilings? It seems completely out of place that tickets for the final are being re-sold for 11000 USD!

Attending a World Cup football match is not for the common fan... 

I have managed to get one ticket for a match, through a friend who won the FIFA lottery, but otherwise was unable to get anything. A few days ago I logged on to FIFA to try to get leftover tickets (basically to any match in Mexico) but was left disappointed after five hours in line as only tickets to wheelchair users seemed to be available. At the same time FIFA says re-selling can only happen on FIFAs own platform (I have nevertheless not found this platform of people re-selling tickets), but one can buy tickets for almost any match at disgustingly high prices on platforms such as stubhub.mx or vividseats.com.

Why is this even possible...?

It is a sad state of affairs and it creates the massive distrust of FIFA, and accusations of greed and not being there for the fans. I do not think FIFA is like that, but there seems to be a problem with how they are managing this.

No worries about the World Cup hosts

I live in Mexico. Mexicans are not naive about their country; they know it has problems. Serious problems in terms of violence, as evidenced in the recent violence following the killing of authorities of a major drug lord. Some of this violence happened in Guadalajara, a city that will host the World Cup, so suddenly news (and actually a lot of fake news were published on media, specially social media, and with the uncritical approach that most people have to social media, these were taken as truths...) started complaining about the World Cup being in Mexico, and requiring a cancellation. Even Portugal, who will be playing a friendly match in Mexico City in March, expressed concern about the match.

This baffles me for so many reasons.

Mexico is huge; it is larger than France, Germany, Spain, and Italy combined, and as such a large country, regions are very different, also in terms of where you should go. Surely it is a problem that gang violence can erupt like it did in a city hosting the World Cup (that said, take my word for it, Guadalajara is a great city), but it is also a result of the government's firm response to criminal groups, a response that in my personal opinion also illustrates how seriously Mexico will take the World Cup. 

And Mexico is amazing, full of kind and welcoming people, and frankly they have more experience in hosting world events than many: this will be their third World Cup, but they have also hosted Olympics, numerous international events, that includes yearly Formula 1, NBA and NFL games. It hosts world class museums, universities, and some of the most visited and famous tourist sites in the world.

So people should have no worries about Mexico.

It almost baffles me as much to hear people say that the US should be withdrawn as host because of the policies of the current government, given that this tournament has before been hosted by rather unsavoury regimes that I am not going to bother mentioning, but who hosted memorable tournaments. The US has the infrastructure and the experience in hosting events, including the 1994 World Cup. Perhaps, some years ago, I would have criticized it for not being a real footballing country, but I do not think that this is valid today; of course other sports are bigger, but football (I refuse to call it soccer) is a big and growing sport, with an interesting and solid MLS with decent quality.

I do not know or can I comment on the government policies, but notwithstanding the mess in the Copa America final, I think the US will be great hosts, also because no matter what, in my experience, the vast majority of US Americans are also kind and welcoming people.

There are huge problems with FIFA and how the World Cup is awarded, the exaggerated and overblown prices and the completely shameless pursuit of money rather than the popular beauty of football. 

But Mexico and the US  (and Canada) co-hosting is not one of these problems.

Trying to get World Cup tickets

Some people think that me living in Mexico makes it easier for me to find tickets for the coming World Cup. Not really; all normal fans, all over the world, are victims to the same FIFA ticketing mayhem that is already causing fan associations to complain.

I do not think it is surprising, as FIFA has for many years been accused of not considering the interests of the fans, and sadly this World Cup appears to confirming the accusation.

I have signed up for the tickets. The dynamic pricing is making them very expensive, and it is easy to argue that this is the nature of market mechanisms, and with an open reselling platform that allows us to resell tickets at any price, it is bound only to increase prices, making it even more inaccessible for the vast majority of people... And FIFA taking up to 15% of reselling price...

I am critical, but admit that I have signed up, and I am hopeful and willing to pay some of the (lower) prices despite it being a large expense. But at the same I am already getting ticket offers from many other platforms, and wonder who is benefiting from these platforms who offer "ticket guarantee" at exaggerated prices, and that on top of this, hospitality tickets are being offered for free to rich elites who seem to be those who could afford the high prices...

While I am open to a policy of dynamic pricing and even grudgingly that FIFA takes its own (high) fee, I would rather question the lack of transparency and equal opportunity access about who gets ticket; because let us face it, some fans are more equal that others...

Sadly, I have stopped having expectations to FIFA as the guarantor of the fans, but still hopeful that I may be able to see a match in the World Cup...

The coming World Cups

 It was announced this week that the 2034 World Cup will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. This has engendered a lot of criticism due to the fact that Saudi Arabia has many democratic and human rights problems. Well, I think it is not a new issue as FIFA has awarded tournament's before without any political or human rights considerations, but rather cold-hearted economic calculations. 

FIFA is first and foremost a money machine, and this has probably been the main criteria in selecting Saudi Arabia. That said, other concerns risk undermining the quality and love we fans feel for the World Cup, and one of these changes will already be seen at the 2026 World Cup in USA-Mexico-Canada: the 48 team tournament is just too big, too many teams, too many mediocre matches that will be watched mainly by people from the nations playing them... With already too many tournaments and too many matches, the World Cup risks drowning in the infinity of choices; it will no longer be special...

Secondly these multi-host tournaments that will in 2030 include three "main" hosts (Spain, Morocco and Portugal), with additional matches to be played in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. 

It is simply too much, too massive.

Perhaps a symbol of our time when everything needs to be bigger and more extravagant, but I can assure one thing: despite the social media hype it will not be better than the World Cups that made my generation dream and love football.

I will of course keep watching the World Cups; I even hope that I will be able to get tickets for 2026 in Mexico through the murky and elitist FIFA ticketing procedures.

That will be another challenge...

John Oliver explaining the World Cup in Qatar

This World Cup is already disappointing

Surprises are bound to happen in the World Cup, and one of the biggest surprises in World Cup history (and personally for me and many Argentines a disappointment) was Argentina losing 1-2 to Saudi Arabia in the first match of the group stages. Argentina, who has not lost since 2019, lost now, and the prospects for winning the World Cup look dim for the Argentines. Although many could recall that in 2010 Spain lost their opening match to Switzerland, and went on to win the whole thing, Argentina clearly does not have the quality to pull back from the abyss of elimination. A Messi who only plays well when things go his way, and behaves like a little spoiled child when they don't is barely the type of quality player that Argentina or anyone would need. 

He is no Maradona. Expect Argentina to be out as they go up against better opposition in the form of Poland and Mexico, who tied 0-0.

Another, albeit lesser, disappointment was Denmark. Not as much because they managed 0-0 against a highly underestimated but strong Tunisian side (anyone who did not know about their quality has never watched football), but more because the Danes have lacked spine in confronting a FIFA who has not allowed them to play with training shirts that say "Human Rights for All" (how in the world is that a political message!?), and subsequently were also told to play without the "One-Love" armbands or face consequences. The latter was also a warning to other teams, who all succumbed to FIFA's threats.

In my view Denmark lacks spine. The Danish Football Association (DBU) claims to be a member of FIFA to push for change, but does not stand up to FIFA when they are doing something clearly wrong. How far does this reach? Will they even shy away from criticizing open corruption!!!??? I would be more proud of a Danish National Team that stood up for something and lost, than a spineless winning side; and they may not even be a winning side how they were playing against Tunisia.

Be fucking Men, and take a stand while you play your football with pride and to the best of your abilities, even if your opponents are not just 11 players, but also the referees backed by a powerful greedy organization!

I would be proud if Denmark would take the first step to withdrawing from FIFA and take other countries with them.

The World will expose Qatar

Let me get this out of the way before I start blogging a lot about Qatar: That country should never ever have been awarded the World Cup. Purely on football terms it is ridiculous to give the World Cup to a country that has never participated and that barely has a functioning league structure. But besides that, the problem is that you have someone hosting the entire world, who don't really want to host the world. It is a country where there is widespread discrimination against sexual orientations, women, and not least thousands and thousands of migrant workers. On the latter, it is estimated that up to 6500 workers have died constructing the stadiums; this is of course a figure that is disputed, but it seems beyond dispute that at least hundreds have died.

And that is already too much, no matter how you turn it. Nobody should die constructing football stadiums.

There is much discussion about boycotting. I am going to watch as many games as possible. While I will enjoy the football, I hope that both players and fans, together with a critical media (that will be prevented from doing their work by Qatari authorities for sure), will expose Qatar for what it is: a filthy regime built on migrant work that pays to get good propaganda that they do not deserve. I hope every opportunity will be used to expose them.

Someone else needs to be exposed as much as the Qatari regime: FIFA, who for money and greed is destroying the World Cup, not just by giving it to a country like Qatar (incredibly Sepp Blatter, a man with firsthand knowledge of the dirty inside workings of FIFA, said that Qatar should never have been awarded the tournament), but also by its idiotic proposals of expanding the tournament and making it every two years, proposals that are so blatantly against the beauty of the sport and the fans.

It hurts that football is being destroyed by these people, and we as fans (and as decent humans) should denounce it as much as we can. 

Let us show these people that football can bring us together against greed and evil!

Suspend Russia

Football is not important, but football can take a stand, and that is what Poland's football players have taken in terms of deciding to boycott their World Cup qualifier against Russia in March. In case Russia is awarded the match, they will face Sweden or the Czech Republic, and Sweden have already also announced that they would not face Russia either.

Potentially, this could qualify Russia directly to the World Cup. And why is that? It is because FIFA has taken no stand as to what to do, and knowing FIFA's lack of courage in these situations, one has to assume that Russia is on its way to Qatar until a clear stand is taken.

Some would argue that football and politics should not be mixed and that the Russian players and fans should not be punished for what is happening. 

Russian players and fans are great; I can say it from experience, from the fantastic time and people I met in Russia in 2018 during the World Cup. But football and politics are intrinsically linked, because football is part of wider society, and cannot be separated from its problems. Russia's government must be isolated for its blatant and aggressive invasion of Ukraine, and although football is just a small thing, Russia must be suspended.

The Qatari disgrace

 As more and more teams are confirming their qualification for next year's World Cup in Qatar, it is truly disturbing to hear that Qatar's small advances in protecting the rights of the workers are not advancing further, but in fact going back. Two weeks ago Amnesty International published a new report on how things are going, and they are indeed looking bleak. Barely a week after the report two Norwegian journalists were detained in Qatar after reporting on the fear and implicit corruption that is behind the organization of the World Cup.

I think it is clear that the Qatari regime appears to have no intention to improve the lot of its migrant workers, and also appears to be willing to go to great lengths to hide anything that could be problematic.

Obviously the World Cup will be held in Qatar. FIFA will not do that, and I am not going to bother reflecting on the despicable reasons for any of FIFA's actions. 

Neither will any government cancel its participation in the World Cup: there will simply not be a sufficient number of countries that will support it, and without this, there will be no meaning to do it. Indeed, the attention of the World Cup is only of great interest to most governments, as it only takes attention away from them at a time of crises all around the world.

The World Cup is the opium of the people.

So what can we do about it? How can we help our brothers and sisters, migrant workers, suffering and being oppressed in Qatar? (a country that also discriminates against women and LGBTI people). I think the recent European championship gave some small indications that I hope fans and teams participating in Qatar will take up: send a strong message; carry t-shirts calling for rights; carry pictures of the many workers who have died; send messages in support of LGBTI people and the family's of migrant workers who have lost their loved ones; wave the flags of Nepal and Bangladesh (where most migrant workers come from) during the matches; I hope players from all teams will take a knee as they have beautifully done against racism, but will do it for Human Rights in Qatar; I hope players will be vocal, as they have been doing a lot recently, and denounce the Qatari treatment of the weakest people who have built the stadiums where they can play, where only global millionaires will be able to get tickets to watch them.

Qatar doesn't deserve the World Cup. FIFA doesn't own the World Cup. The World Cup belongs to the people, to the fans and the players (who are fans too), and they will make the World Cup great, but hopefully denounce the greed of the people who claim to own the World Cup.

Why the World Cup should not be every two years

 There has been a lot of discussion about this lately, with FIFA apparently gathering strength to propose to hold the World Cup every two years. As is probably to be expected I am against this: nothing is more special in terms of football than the World Cup (if not in quality, where the Champions League is much better), and already the expansion of the number of teams is diminishing its importance, and holding it every two years will further diminish it to nobody's benefit (I understand if FIFA sees it as a potential for short-term profit, but I cannot see how it can be any benefit whatsoever in the longer term).

And I think today's Nations League semifinal between Italy and Spain is another example that FIFA should be careful to not give us so many matches, that in the end nothing is special. The match was great, with the European Champions of Italy losing an exciting match 1-2 to a rising Spanish side. Arguably two of the best teams in the world, playing a competitive match at the highest level, but the stadium in Milano was not even sold-out! This should be proof enough that if too many matches are there, interest from fans will diminish.

A great match, and probably a great final, but there is already so much football, that FIFA must be careful to take away what makes it special.

Christmas every month would not be special.

Why not throw them out?

 Hungary’s fans behaved as racist animals in their enormous defeat against England in Budapest. Besides the happiness that we should all have when Hungary loses, and the way we should celebrate when these people don’t qualify for the World Cup, this again brings to the forth the football organizers’ lack of willingness to do anything about it.

Firstly, if Hungary has already been ordered to play three matches without fans by UEFA; how come FIFA does not act on this? Do they not talk to each other? Or just assume that the racists are not interested in World Cup qualifiers?

Secondly, why such feeble punishments? Three matches without fans and some fine that they can pay with pocket change? Why not something like banning them from playing home games, not for a few games, but for years? Or rather, in my view, why not show that we mean to combat the scourge of racism by simply throwing out the teams of the tournament?! This would not be new: countries have been banned from World Cups for “government interference” or even using overaged players… 

I know some people would argue that a majority should not suffer from the animal behavior of a minority. But when the racism happens consistently at every game and there is no internal rejection of this behavior by the “majority”, then the majority is, sorry to say, complicit in the behavior. This includes everyone; also those in and around the team: your fans are part of your team, not just when they are great, but also when they are beasts (England knows this…), and so you carry a responsibility too; don’t’ turn away from it.

So these teams should just be thrown out of the tournament. 

Nobody will miss them.

The Winter World Cup

FIFA has just announced that the World Cup in 2022 in Qatar will be held in November-December, apparently due to the heat in June-July.
As if the heat was not there when they chose Qatar...
So expect a World Cup to suspend the excitement of the best football in the world: Champions League, Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, etc., will all be suspended during the World Cup. Instead, 2022 will be a loooooong summer...
The decision on making the World Cup with 48 teams instead of 32 for 2022 is still pending. It is an idiotic decision that will only contribute to lower the quality of the World Cup so much as to make it almost meaningless in footballing terms, if not in nationalistic money-making terms.
I am afraid that with these horrible decisions the World Cup in Russia this year will be remembered by many fans as the last World Cup.
From now on, it is just downhill.

My trip to Russia

I had the fortune to go to Russia with a great friend for six days during this World Cup. The fortune was mainly due to visiting a beautiful and friendly country with a great friend. The football was so and so...
Of course, due to the impossibility of getting tickets for the best matches, we took tickets to whatever we could get: Croatia-Iceland in Rostov-on-Don. I have to mention that when Argentina did not win their group, and Denmark were to face Croatia, Argentineans in every street corner of Moscow were offering tickets for the Denmark-Croatia match, as many had bought tickets thinking they would be group winners. Seems strange that I could have bought a ticket off the street from almost any Argentine, while at FIFAs website it was all but impossible...
The World Cup in Russia is well-organised: the FAN-ID system worked fine and there were volunteers to help fans all over the country. Getting to Rostov-on-Don we took Russian-Trains, 19 hours from Moscow in a sleeping wagon.
It was a splendid trip going South, with a nice albeit slow train with eating wagon and very friendly Russians throughout. Perhaps the greatest of the Western myths about Russia and its people is that they are not friendly, but this was quite the contrary throughout, and I am sure that this World Cup is by far friendlier than any pervious or future tournament in Europe or North America, especially from what we will see in the so-called "World Cup" of 2026.
Rostov-on-Don is a nice city in southern Russia that probably does not see that many foreign visitors. One local told me that the city had been thoroughly renewed (among others a new airport that is one of the nicest airport I have ever seen) and that the city seemed in perpetual holiday atmosphere with the World Cup. And indeed the atmosphere was great.
The stadium, Rostov Arena, is beautifully situated next to the Don River and on match day it was a lovely walk across the river to get to the stadium.
Croatia-Iceland was an ok match. Croatia, who did not seem to stretch themselves, were clearly a better team. Iceland, who clearly had more support among locals and neutral alike, fought bravely but were eliminated from their first ever World Cup. Besides the atmosphere, experiencing the famous Icelandic "Hu" Cheer was quite amazing in the stadium.
Fans are the best thing about the World Cup, because the vast majority are nice people out to have fun in the guise of "eleven-guys-kicking-a-ball-who-happen-to-share-your-passport". Petty nationalism is the worst of this (and any) World Cup, but it remains rather in the background as fans meet and have a pint and a laugh. We greatly enjoyed hanging with fans from Iceland, Croatia, Russia and Mexico (Mexicans were numerous everywhere). But here one must mention the so-called Fan Zones: The one in Rostov was frankly, -and excuse my expression-, shit. The Fan Zones are a highly protected corporate propaganda area with watered down beer and large screens. But do not be fooled that it is for football fans! We went to the Rostov Fan Zone when Portugal-Iran and Spain-Morocco were playing, but turns out they only show one match among their 50+ large screens!! It was Portugal-Iran, but there were a huge number of disappointed Spain and Morocco fans unable to watch their teams...
Frankly, that is a disgrace, such as the whole FIFA Fan Zone concept.
Instead, the best thing was to hang out in the many bars and pubs of any of the host cities: in Rostov-on-Don we watched France-Denmark and Peru-Australia simultaneously in a pub before heading to Rostov Arena, and in Moscow enjoyed Colombia-Senegal in a pub with plenty of beer and fans (mostly supporting Colombia).
Moscow is a lovely city and the atmosphere was also great, with an even greater variety of fans than in Rostov-on-Don (on the Red Square saw fans from every place, but particularly the Latin Americans were numerous). We had no tickets for any matches there, but did see England-Belgium in the Fan Zone. As any Fan Zone it was shit, but it was certainly worth the visit because it is the beautifully situated at the foot of Moscow Univeristy. Of course, we had the annoyance with the volunteers after the match, who sent us on a one hour walk to reach a pub, instead of advising us better. That was the biggest annoyance of the trip (I lost my phone on the second day, but being disconnected during the entire trip was in fact fantastic!), but should mention that besides those idiotic volunteers the rest were friendly, smiling and very helpful, just as the vast majority of Russians.
In the end, football should only be a meager excuse to see Moscow (or all of Russia for that sake). A gorgeous city with a rich history, it is worth a visit any time, and that is something I certainly take with me from this short visit: the wish to visit again! And whatever all the petty nationalism, FIFA, as well as poor and unfair football, this World Cup will be remembered for being a great one because it was in Russia!