Go Middle-East

12Nov09

Probably not the follow-up single the Village People had lined up way back in 1979, nor the Pet Shop Boys 24 years later – but it would now seem a wholly appropriate time to pen such a hit.

If, like me, you used to ask yourself regularly 6 years ago “What isn’t in the Middle-East right now?” Your answer would be something along the lines of ”Well, besides Weapons of Mass Destruction,  i’d say major international sports competition”.

That is certainly no longer the case – with a plethora of examples from the UAE alone that can be summed up lazily by using this link http://www.dubaisportscity.ae/ - it is now the turn of the England football team to line up in…Doha. Qatar…vs Brazil.

Well that makes complete sense. Although the last time i checked my Early Learning Centre globe, Qatar isn’t quite conveniently located near, nor between, England and Brazil – in fact i’d go out on a limb to say it’s out of the way for both teams.

There, i’ve said it. I’m also quite certain it’s not because of the high ratio of Qatari-based players both nations have.

While zealously researching for this blog, a question rarely asked in the football world is “why?” – i made it my quest to find out why this match is being staged in Doha – but then i read the word “lucrative” and that was enough.

So, again, it is money that now determines where football matches are to be staged – maybe we should look at it as a ‘qualifying bonus’ as we could be playing a match of actual importance this weekend.

Fortunately, that is not the case. Instead, we will be subject to another meaningless friendly which will be thinly-veiled as jostling for World Cup plane tickets by broadcasting tv bumblers ITV.

It is also a well known fact, that there has never been a “classic” friendly match. I’ve certainly never heard anyone say “Did you see that amazing friendly match? You know, the one where they didn’t make 20 changes per side, was a great atmosphere and there were more than 2 goals?”.

Strangely, England vs Argentina in November 2005 (which was hosted in Geneva, naturally), was probably one of the best England friendlies i’ve seen…so perhaps a strange omen there? I’m sure ITV would take the bait – a neutral country hosting a match between England and a major South American side in the final weeks of the international season before a World Cup year? There you go Steve Rider, you can have that one for free…

One guarantee is that this match will tell us nothing – barring a 5-0 victory, which would guarantee we’ll win the World Cup, obviously.


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