Well, let me elaborate, their soccer team sucks.
As things quickly go sideways here at Beacon of Speech, let me remind you that Jim Rome used to say, all the time, that saying something "sucks" is not a take.
But Qatari (Soccer) does suck.
World Cup 2022 was nothing more than a giant advertisement for Qatar, it was never about soccer. Seemingly every other commercial was "educating" the world on the glorious peninsula. You think I should watch what I say, I might get banned from Qatar, like the Israelis? Qatar doesn't want me to visit, I'm too poor. They are advertising to the world's rich and famous.
Before the World Cup started I was very, very clear how I felt about Qatari Soccer:
Qatar Will Pay - On the Soccer Field - Contained within was my Prediction
Lo and Behold, look what happened:
0 Points
-6 Goal Differential
Dead Last in Tournament
Qatar was one of only 2 countries not to earn a point in their 3 matches, the other being Canada. But Canada's -5 goal differential was superior to Qatar's.
Am I a modern day Nostradamus? No, the Qatari's early exit was the easiest prediction I ever made.
FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE WORLD CUP WASN'T ABOUT A SOCCER TOURNAMENT. IT WAS ABOUT BRIBERY AND MARKETING. IF IT WAS ABOUT SOCCER, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE AWARDED A SUMMER SOCCER TOURNAMENT TO A DESERT COUNTRY WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 105 DEGREES.
Oh, and coincidentally, the day before I published my article?
Other Short Notes from today:
-Belgium's tie will haunt Romelu Lukaku for the rest of his life.
-Costa Rico's Keylor Navas faced 32 shots today and made 7 saves losing to Germany 4-2. That's not a World Cup line for a goalie, that's an indoor soccer game.
-Germany was a blade of grass away from making the next round.
-Before the World Cup, I picked Brazil to win the tournament. I might hedge and say Argentina. If the blue and white didn't have 3 goals called back and then were hit for a dozen offside calls against Saudi Arabia, they would clearly be the favorite after the group stage.
Top 2 Reasons the USMNT moved on?
#1 - Christian Pulisic's Iron Gonads.
Matt Turner earned the World Cup start when he won the Gold Cup in 2021 and was named the tournament's best goalkeeper.
In the year 2026, the World Cup hosts will be Mexico, Canada, and the United States. All 3 will automatically qualify as hosts. Coincidentally, the field for the World Cup will expand from 32 teams to 48.
The number of teams that will qualify from the Asian Football Confederation will expand from 4.5 (right now that half spot is a play in game vs an OFC team) to 8 spots.
Let me predict who will snag those 8 spots, 4 years in advance:
South Korea
Japan
Iran
Saudi Arabia
Australia
(All 5 teams will be back in 4 years.)
Unite Arab Emirates - Will return to the World Cup for the 1st time since 1990.
China - Will return to the World Cup for the 1st time since 2002.
Syria - Will be the Cinderella Team in 2026, making its first World Cup.
Qatar will be ranked around 100th in the world, probably a few notches above Kyrgyzstan. They will also face charges that they tried to manipulate their place in the AFC.
Qatar will not return to the World Cup in my lifetime.
(You could be laughing that if I died tomorrow, technically I'd still be right. Okay, using Beacon of Speech as a time capsule, Qatar won't be back in the World Cup before 2040.)
Addendum: 3 Days Later
The Daily Mail's WORST of the World Cup:
4 of the 11 players were from Qatar. In a 32 team tournament, how did Qatar place 4 on the "Worst Of" Teasm?
Oh yeah, re-read the title.