FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 (Promo)
The video include Football Skills, Tricks , Highlights , Dribbling & Goals , from Cristiano Ronaldo , Neymar Jr , Lionel Messi , Paul Pogba , James Rodríguez , Luis Suarez and more…
FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 (Promo)
The video include Football Skills, Tricks , Highlights , Dribbling & Goals , from Cristiano Ronaldo , Neymar Jr , Lionel Messi , Paul Pogba , James Rodríguez , Luis Suarez and more…
Fifa says it will not pay compensation to clubs and leagues unhappy about plans to play the 2022 Qatar World Cup in November and December.
It also said no apology was necessary for the scheduling of the tournament, which will disrupt a number of leagues.
A Fifa taskforce has recommended the 2022 World Cup take place in winter to avoid Qatar's hot summer temperatures.
“There will be no compensation,” said Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke. “There are seven years to reorganise.”
Fifa's executive committee will meet in Zurich next month to ratify the taskforce's recommendation.
Valcke also suggested that a 2022 World Cup final on 23 December was looking increasingly likely.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore says a final that close to Christmas will cause havoc with the traditional festive club programme, while Fifa Vice-President Jim Boyce wants it played a week earlier.
But Valcke says European governing body Uefa and other confederations are keen on Friday, 23 December, although 18 December is also a possibility.
Valcke also confirmed the 2022 World Cup will be four days shorter as a “concession” to leagues and clubs - 28 days instead of the usual 31/32 - and that the 2023 African Nations Cup will move to June from January.
Speaking at a news conference in Doha today, Valcke admitted the situation was “not perfect” but added, “Why are we talking about compensation? It's happening once, we're not destroying football.
“Why should we apologise to the clubs? We have had an agreement with the clubs that they are part of the beneficiaries. It was $40m in 2010 and $70m in 2014. We are bringing all our people to enjoy the sporting and financial results of the World Cup.”
Scottish Football Association Chief Executive Stewart Regan has added his voice to those lamenting the impact a winter World Cup will have on leagues and clubs around the world.
“We will look at the knock-on effects of the decision and how it will affect Scottish football,” he said. “Clearly there will be fixture challenges for leagues across the world.
“We have been expecting this decision for some time, but it is going to run late into December and just how close to Christmas it gets is something that needs to be thought through.”
Exactly a century ago, the English modernist poet Thomas Stearns Eliot wrote The Waste Land. He structured the poem as a collection of fragmented dramatic monologues, "a heap of broken images." Waking up from the horror of the Great War, no total picture of life was available to him. He reflected on the fragmentary ruins of Europe with symptoms of death all around. For him, the once-great civilisation was dying and was guilty of ennui – a personification of apathy and inactivity.
He found his fellow creatures blooming like lilacs on a graveyard who were not willing to endure the pains and efforts needed for a change. In one of the most memorable lines, Eliot quotes the French poet Charles Baudelaire to warn his readers not to think of themselves as morally superior to others. We all have our flaws, and we all have contributed to the breakdown of the system. He ends the first section by stating, "Hypocrite reader – my twin – my brother!"
I mention The Waste Land to reflect on the West and its hypocrisy that we have all witnessed in recent weeks. Thanks largely to the Western media, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar has been in the eye of the storm.
Ever since the Gulf state won the bid to host the biggest show on Earth, the massive moral industry has been finding faults in the way it is organising the event. Traditional "football fortresses like Barcelona and Berlin are turning their backs on the World Cup" while "Germany, Spain, France and Belgium are refusing to show any World Cup games" (Daily Mail). BBC has relegated the live-streaming to a red button option. Why? They accuse the Qatari government of bribing FIFA for getting the nomination in the first place, of using migrant workers to build the infrastructure ever since the nomination, leading to the death of over 6,500 people, and of maintaining the death penalty for homosexuality.
Gianni Infantino, the president of the international football association, lashed out against the West for their hypocrisy, reminding his fellow brothers that "for what we Europeans have been doing for the last 3,000 years, we should apologise for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people." Infantino reminded the press that the Western business companies who operated in Qatar had done nothing to improve the quality of the migrant workers' lives.
Western governments have continued to procure natural gas and oil from Qatar while their media outlets unleashed their political and moral bombast on human rights. Qatar's track record in exploiting its migrant workers is no different from many parts of the world. A law enacted in 2017 to protect workers has helped little to stem the rot. Then again, when we hear that many of the construction projects were implemented by non-Qatari firms, Infantino scores a point. The expat consultants receive attractive pay packages with relocation and tax-free benefits. In contrast, migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal or Sri Lanka have to pay for their recruitment. Those in white collar jobs had the choice of doing something for the ones in blue collars. Our hypocritical brothers did not speak then. And they are not asking their fellow friends to hold their tongues either.
For a country like Bangladesh, which depends a lot on its migrant workers for remittance, the gala event offered an opportunity when Qatar spent over USD 229 billion to build its infrastructure. The big question will be how to reengage these workers who might be redundant now that this construction mania is over. Will the West intervene? Very unlikely so. It is the same West that lectures us on the plight of the displaced Rohingyas in the refugee camps and has no qualms over the floating migrants in the Mediterranean. As for the LGBTQ issue, only 33 countries have legalised same-sex marriage. Why single out a nation, then?
Now that the event has tabled all its major teams, football is finally taking the centre stage. We have already seen some major upsets where former champions like Argentina and Germany have tasted defeat to their Asian counterparts. This is a perfect response to the Eurocentric and Orientalist languages that we have experienced.
"The desert World Cup," according to BBC, is "blighted by a dust storm of controversy." Another British tabloid headlined, "Grunting camels outside England's Qatar HQ leave team facing sleepless nights." Earlier, another news report complained that the event in Qatar "robbed us of a summer of football." A German TV complained about the carbon footprints due to the number of air conditioners and flights bringing in visitors for the games.
Ironically, Europe depends a lot on the energy supply from Gulf states – including Qatar – to withstand the winter of discontent that is looming large due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Yet, the underlying tone of Europe has been you cannot buy everything, not "our" football. They probably forget that this is not UEFA; the World Cup is international. In the opening ceremony, Morgan Freeman, who narrated the segment "The Calling," rightly reminded the crowd, "We gather here as one big tribe and Earth is the tent we all live in."
We need a long soul-searching to set our moral standards for us, for our twins, and for our brothers (and sisters).
Dr Shamsad Mortuza is a professor of English at Dhaka University.
The World Cup-winning French team returned home to a heroes' welcome yesterday, parading down the Champs-Elysees as hundreds of thousands of cheering fans gave a raucous welcome to the country's newest idols.
France overcame a determined Croatia to win 4-2 in Sunday's final in Russia, with teenager Kylian Mbappe applying the coup de grace and cementing his place as a new global superstar at the age of just 19.
Millions of fans in France then celebrated into the night, honking car horns and flying the tricolour flag while the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe were lit up in the national colours of blue, white and red.
Crowds began converging early Monday on the Champs-Elysees, the gathering point for all national celebrations, to catch a glimpse of a returning squad which has captured the country's imagination.
As the celebrating players descended on an open-air bus under heavy police guard -- some of the 2,000 officers deployed in the capital -- nine jets from the Patrouille de France, the air force's acrobatic unit, did an honorary flyover trailing blue, white and red smoke.
After leaving the Champs-Elysees, the players quickly changed into custom-made blue suits before being welcomed at the Elysee Palace by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, who were also decked out in blue for the occasion.
Macron previously promised the Legion of Honour for the victors' "exceptional services" to the country, an award already given to the legendary team which won France's first World Cup title in 1998.
The first couple then posed with the team as they sang the Marseillaise national anthem and waved scarves for a joyous group photo, before heading inside for a private meeting.
"Thanks to you all!" Macron told the team after gathering again outside. "This team is beautiful because you are united!"
Despite a voice nearly failing him, Pogba then proved himself a showman off the field as well as on by leading the guests in an impromptu celebratory rap punctuated by "Allez les Bleus!"
Nearly 3,000 guests were invited to the reception in the Elysee gardens, including around 1,000 youths from local football clubs such as Bondy, the gritty Paris suburb whose towering housing projects produced Mbappe.
Afterwards guests would be treated to the beats of DJ Snake, who has worked with pop stars including Lady Gaga and is part of the Pardon My French collective of French DJs.
Macron had already celebrated with the team on Sunday -- even doing "dab" dance moves with players in a video that has gone viral -- after attending the final in Moscow.
Later, the team were expected to attend a dinner in their honour at the posh Hotel du Crillon.
In Paris, the metro system has temporarily renamed six of its stations in honour of the key players, with the Victor Hugo stop -- named after the famed 19th-century writer -- becoming Victor Hugo Lloris after the team's goalkeeper.
Two stations were rebaptised in tribute to France coach Didier Deschamps, who captained the national side to its first World Cup victory, won on home soil in 1998.
"There are two things that matter -- one is that these 23 players are now together for life, whatever happens, and also that from now on they will not be the same again, because they are world champions," a champagne-soaked Deschamps said Sunday.
Macron will be relieved that joyous and occasionally chaotic celebrations across France on Sunday night passed off without any major incident following a string of terror attacks in France since 2015.
Barcelona midfielder Rakitic scored the decisive spot-kick as Croatia beat Russia 4-3 on penalties after a dramatic quarter-final in Sochi on Saturday finished 2-2 at the end of extra-time.
“We worked so hard and gave everything we had to get through to the semis. I think for a country like Croatia it is impressive and we want to keep going further,” said Rakitic.
“We want to enjoy this victory and not put more pressure on ourselves with what happened in 1998 -- what they did was impressive but we want to keep writing our own history and enjoy what we are doing which is very positive.”
Croatia will play England in the last four in Moscow on Wednesday, as they aim to outdo the team of 20 years ago. Back then they lost to hosts France in the last four.
“I hope we can outdo them. Their generation are more than heroes for us,” added Rakitic.
Croatia came from behind in Sochi with Andrej Kramaric cancelling out Denis Cheryshev’s opener as the tie ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Domagoj Vida then headed Zlatko Dalic’s side in front in extra time, only for Mario Fernandes to make it 2-2 in the 115th minute.
However, Rakitic ensured that Croatia prevailed in the shoot-out, their second in a row after beating Denmark on penalties in the last round.
They must recover quickly from a draining night before facing England, who were 2-0 winners over Sweden earlier on Saturday.
“We enjoy playing against big teams as we showed against Argentina,” insisted defender Dejan Lovren.
“England are one of the favourites to win the World Cup and you need to respect that, but we have nothing to lose. We will enjoy this game and hopefully we can make history.”
Lovren added that he was confident right-back Sime Vrsaljko would recover from the muscle injury that forced him off in extra-time against Russia.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia is almost over. We've been treated to a tournament full of fantastic goals, heartbreaking upsets and plenty of underdog triumphs that add drama to the greatest sporting event in the world. Now that it's drawing to a close - what do the stars of each nation drive, and what car would they be if they were vehicles on the streets of Dhaka?
Lionel Messi might drive a Lamborghini Huracan, but if the Argentine superstar had been a vehicle on the clogged up streets of Dhaka, he'd probably be a Pathao rider with 2 helmets and defensive armour. He'd be super fast, and his superior tactics would ensure that he gets past all obstacles.
England made strides this tournament with captain Harry Kane. The Tottenham star drives a Bentley Continental GT, although here, he would be a Dhaka-Sylhet bus. A calm and collected vehicle that's secretly hiding the firepower to get you to the London of Bangladesh on time.
Cristiano Ronaldo, another contender for greatest of all time, earns massive paychecks at Real Madrid that can afford him a Bugatti Chiron. He's fast and capable of split-second direction changes, much like the Legunas we see around the city. He would go to great lengths to get the job done.
Atlético Madrid and France striker Antoinne Griezmann is a big fan of McLaren, and sports the top dog P1 as his chariot. His immense work-rate on the field as he comes back on defence go in-line with Dhaka's favourite car, the Toyota Corolla X, which is absolutely everywhere.
Neymar still drives the Audi R8 V10 from his Audi sponsored Barcelona days. Now at PSG, the Brazil forward has made headlines this World Cup for all the wrong reasons. Thus, he would definitely be a mishuk or CNG - prone to falling over.
Arsenal's German winger Mesut Ozil pays tribute to his nationality with his Mercedes SLS AMG, but his sure-footed sprints across large swathes of field are similar to the Volkswagen Beetle's old-school yet surprising performance. Doesn't have the most power, but faster than it appears.
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