World Cup: From karma to cats, the tournament takes unexpected turns

Moroccan coach Walid Regragui was despatched off within the air by gamers after the World Cup quarter-final victory over Portugal. Martin Meisner / Related Press

AL-RAYAN, Qatar – Morocco has moved on and Brazil is dwelling. Lionel Messi remains to be taking part in, and Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t.

A World Cup that started with controversy and uncertainty will find yourself making historical past, although precisely what sort of historical past stays to be seen. Perennial favorites equivalent to Germany, Belgium, England, Spain and now Brazil are absent. Morocco, France, Croatia and Argentina stay.

France have an opportunity to turn out to be the primary repeat winners in 60 years, however first they need to get previous Morocco, the one African staff to succeed in the quarter-finals, within the semi-finals on Wednesday. Messi, arguably the best participant of his era, can lastly add a world championship to a resume that features each different trophy, however he and Argentina should first transfer previous Croatia, runners-up for 4 years, within the semi-finals on Tuesday.

Only a week in the past, the event appeared destined to finish with first-placed favorites Brazil profitable one other title. Now, the event has seen two semi-final matches with extra uncertainty than the English penalty kick.

And for you can thank the stray cat who wandered right into a Brazilian press convention.

Cats are ubiquitous in Qatar, with some estimates inserting cat numbers on par with people. That is partly as a result of Qatar is a religious Muslim nation and cats are revered in Islam. However that is additionally as a result of the state had a extreme rodent downside and hundreds of cats have been introduced in to repair that.

Both approach, they’ve made their method to the highest spot within the World Cup.

French winger Ousmane Dembele, for instance, is a scaredy-cat, in response to teammate Randall Kolo-Mwani, who mentioned Dembele is afraid of the waterfalls that roam the 33 acres surrounding his French resort lodge in Doha. In the meantime, England defender Kyle Walker has vowed to undertake an unique cat that he and teammate John Stones have named Dave. With each Manchester Metropolis gamers dwelling in Cheshire, when England entered the quarter-finals of the event unbeaten, the slender gray-black-striped kitten appeared destined to turn out to be the Cheshire Cat.

Sadly, Dave was left to an unsure destiny after the Three Lions have been eradicated after skipping skipper Harry Kane to attempt to equalize from the penalty spot in Saturday’s quarter-final loss to France, persevering with England’s lengthy and horrific custom of unlucky penalty kicks in main competitions. .

However essentially the most well-known cat in Qatar was the one who jumped on the desk in entrance of Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior throughout an interview two days earlier than Brazil’s quarter-final match with Croatia. The Actual Madrid star laughed on the cat’s insolence, then appeared shocked when the staff’s press officer roughly grabbed the animal with each fingers and threw it to the bottom.

It proved to be a catastrophe and the response from animal rights teams and social media was predictably harsh.

“What is that this man’s downside?” requested Beta on Twitter. Two days later, Croatia knocked Brazil out of the event on penalties. Vinicius, who scored a objective and two assists in Brazil’s first three matches, appeared to turn out to be inflexible within the loss, hitting only one shot on objective earlier than being subbed off within the 63rd minute, his shortest World Cup efficiency. Even worse, Rodrigo, the participant who changed him, opened the penalty shootout miserably.

Minutes later, the World Cup finals in Brazil ended.

Cat abuse is a severe crime in Islam and followers have been fast guilty the cat’s karma. Portugal can blame their loss on Ronaldo, who has turn out to be such a distraction that coach Fernando Santos has saved him out of the beginning line-up for the final two matches, together with Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Morocco. Ronaldo, soccer’s all-time high scorer, left the sector alone and in tears afterwards, his quest for the World Cup title led to embarrassment.

“I do not remorse it,” Santos mentioned of his squad decisions. “It isn’t that Ronaldo is not a fantastic participant. What must you do about it?”

Associated to it, it appears, is Ronaldo’s response to being dominated out of the ultimate group stage match on the hour mark. Portugal had already received the group and Santos eliminated three starters – together with Ronaldo – within the sixty fifth minute to relaxation them for the knockout phases. Ronaldo muttered one thing to Santos as he walked off, then threw his arms within the air earlier than strolling off the bench, as he frowned throughout the remainder of the sport.

Earlier within the event, Ronaldo, nominally the captain of Portugal, claimed {that a} objective attributed to teammate Bruno Fernandes actually ought to have gone to him. There could have been karma concerned there too, for the reason that demise of Portugal, which dominated its African colonies with an iron fist, paved the way in which for Morocco to turn out to be the primary African and first Muslim-majority nation to succeed in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

And I did that in the course of the first event that was held in an Arab nation.

Morocco had little probability of rising from a gaggle that included Belgium and Croatia, the highest three groups 4 years in the past. As a substitute, she received the set.

Within the knockout rounds, they weren’t given a lot probability in opposition to Spain, the previous World Cup champions, and Ronaldo’s Portugal, ranked ninth on the earth. She beat each of them and nonetheless hasn’t allowed an opponent to attain, conceding solely an personal objective in 5 matches.

This success has impressed individuals in each Arab and African nations, in addition to in different places with giant Moroccan populations.

“A victory for any Arab staff is a victory for all Arabs,” mentioned Nizar Ahmed, 27, a nurse from Jordan who works in Qatar and is now a Moroccan fan.

Certainly, many of the world ought to be cheering Morocco, who’re solely the third nation exterior of Europe and South America to succeed in the semi-finals of the World Cup, after South Korea in 2002 and america in 1930. For changing into the primary nation to succeed in the ultimate. She must defeat France.

The 2 nations have shut relations since Morocco was below French safety till 1956, and three of its gamers, in addition to its coach, have been born in France. 4 of its greatest gamers are nonetheless taking part in there. So Morocco won’t shock the French.

“Few individuals anticipated to see Morocco within the semi-finals, they stunned everybody and deserved to be there. Nobody can take that away from them,” mentioned French coach Didier Deschamps.
“They’ve performed and beat a few of the greatest groups on the earth. It’s a historic achievement.”

Not if you’re Portugal or Brazil. For these two nations it was disastrous.

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