Thanks for joining me for this brief stint but mainly thanks to Martin for his fine work.
Lionel Scaloni is very much a man who is not worried about a bit of aggression from his players. Croatia are in for a tough night tomorrow.
Our Scottish football correspondent has a cunning plan for England.
Back to the Legends match. It looks like Roberto Carlos has legged it with the trophy.
Have a bit of Nick Ames on Croatia.
How many of the legends can you name?
There’s been a Fifa legends game in Qatar, including such luminaries as Alessandro Del Piero, Cafu, John Terry, Michel Salgado and Sabri Lamouchi. Not only are legendary players are involved but also Gianni Infantino, who has taken on the role of referee or something.
Raphaël Varane says France will not fall into Morocco’s trap when they face one another in their semi-final on Wednesday.
“We have a lot of experience and will not fall into the trap of thinking we’re favourites,” Varane said. “If Morocco have reached the semi-finals it is not down to luck. They defend really well and it is going to be a really difficult game.
“It is up to us, with our experienced players, to push forward. We are going to have to fight really hard and we will not think it is easy. We have to give 100 per cent and fight until the end. You have to earn a place in the final.”
Thanks Martin. Here we are in the final throes of the blog, desperately longing for some live football.
That’s it from me, Martin Belam, for today. I am handing you over to Will Unwin now. I will be back tomorrow – when we get football again. Yay!
It is all a bit academic if your penalty kick is sailing over the bar and into outer space like Harry Kane’s did on Saturday, but one other thing that came out of the technical study group presentation this morning is that goalkeepers have done better when facing penalties than they did in 2018 in Russia.
AP quotes former Switzerland international and Fifa goalkeeping analyst Pascal Zuberbühler saying that goalkeepers had adapted well to a recent rule change requiring them to keep part of one foot touching the goalline before a penalty is taken.
The overall save rate for goalkeepers facing penalties in Qatar was up to 34% compared to 25% four years ago. “It is all about the timing and the first good step,” Zuberbühler said.
Midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni and centre back Dayot Upamecano both missed training on Monday as France prepare for their World Cup semi-final against Morocco on Wednesday.
The French federation did not give any explanation for their absence, but Reuters reports that sports daily L’Equipe said that Upamecano had a sore throat and Tchouaméni was suffering from a knock.
Here is a reminder of your match officials for tomorrow’s semi-final between Argentina and Croatia. Italian Daniele Orsato will be the man with the whistle, which you would think rules him out of officiating at the final at the weekend.
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) December 11, 2022
You would think we might give them the day off every now and again, but you would be wrong. Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Mark Langdon, Robyn Cowen, and Marcela Mora y Araujo have been shepherded back into the pod to preview Tuesday and Wednesday’s semi-finals. Get it in your ears right here.
Beating Argentina would be bigger than reaching 2018 final - Dalić
Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalić believes victory over Argentina in their World Cup semi-final would eclipse the win against England at the same stage four years ago, PA reports
After leading Croatia to the final in Russia, Dalić has steered them into the business end of another World Cup and they face Argentina at Lusail Stadium on Tuesday night.
Croatia may have lost to France in 2018 but have shown in Qatar that their progress was not a fluke as they beat Brazil on penalties to claim another final-four appearance.
Dalić’s side came from behind to beat England after extra-time in Moscow and, while the 56-year-old hails that as a famous victory, he feels another semi-final scalp would surpass it.
“The semi-final match against England in the last World Cup was the greatest match of all time, the game against Brazil comes in second,” he said. “If we win tomorrow that would make it the greatest historical game for Croatia of all time.
“It is one of the most important, most significant matches for us, after just four years to repeat the success would be such an achievement on the world stage with a new national team is fantastic and I believe it is a great success.
“We are among the four best teams in the world, that is an extraordinary success for Croatia, it is a great thing for two World Cups in a row to be in the four best nations teams in football.
“We want more, we are playing the great Argentina, a terrific team led by Lionel Messi, they are highly-motivated and under more pressure than Croatia at this moment in time.
“I am an optimist by nature, I do trust my players, they have demonstrated a high-level of quality, strength of character as we would not have made it to the semi-finals without that. We will not change the way we play.
“My pride has no limits, the sky is the limit. Everyone has a dream and my dream was to be head coach of my country but I could never have wished for this.”
Eight of Croatia’s last nine knockout games at major tournaments have gone to extra-time, with the 4-2 loss to France in the World Cup final the only exception, but Dalić does not feel both of their previous two games going the distance in Qatar will hamper his team.
“It was exhausting that we played extra-time in two matches but we are in the semi-final of the World Cup so we are not even discussing exhaustion,” he added.
“We have strength and energy, we will give our best as we have done so in every match before. We have recovered after each match and this will be the case against Argentina, we will give our best, we have no great problems when it comes to the players, all are healthy.”
Updated
An absolutely fascinating piece here from Richard Foster about the strange (and often unfair) history of the World Cup’s Fair Play award:
There was an early pattern to Fair Play winners. West Germany hosted the tournament, won the World Cup and won the Fair Play award in 1974, and Argentina did the same in 1978. Twenty years later in 1998 the hosts and champions, France, also picked up the Fair Play award (sharing it with England). It was a bizarre choice, given that France had picked up the joint-most red cards in the tournament with three – Zinedine Zidane was sent off against Saudi Arabia in a group match; Laurent Blanc was dismissed in the semi-final; and Marcel Desailly was shown red in the final. They also picked up 10 yellow cards in their seven games, but the judges turned a blind eye to this series of indiscretions.
Read more here: Richard Foster – The strange (and often unfair) history of the World Cup’s Fair Play award
We won't change out style - Scaloni
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was up before the media pack in Qatar today, and Reuters is carrying some if his quotes. He told reporters:
They have troubled many national teams. I won’t mention the key players or their strengths and weaknesses but we’ve analysed where we can hurt them. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.
We try to give it all on the pitch. Sometimes luck can be on your side. If we have a good performance, we’ll have an easier road to reach our objective. But this is football, this is sport, so sometimes the best team may not win.
We have our own system, our style. Of course, in certain situations we need to take into account how the opponents are playing. We won’t change our style beyond the system and that’s what we’re going to do. During the game we will of course make decisions and rise up to the challenge.”
Scaloni said both Angel Di Maria and Rodrigo De Paul would be fit and missing the suspended Marcos Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel would not be a problem.
He was asked specifically, of course, about the ever-influential Luka Modrić. Scaloni said:
He’s a role model for so many of us – not just because of his talent but also his behaviour. All I can say is we should enjoy him. If you love football then you should enjoy players like him.
Scaloni was also asked to address the aftermath of their penalty shootout victory over the Netherlands, a bad-tempered match which featured something like 1,057 yellow cards, and ugly scenes at the end.
The previous game was played the way we had to play. That’s football. Sometimes things like arguments can happen, but that’s all. That’s why there’s a referee.
We need to put an end to this idea that Argentina behave like this. We lost to Saudi Arabia and didn’t say anything.
We won the Copa America in Brazil and experienced the most sporting behaviour from Messi, Paredes, Neymar – who were all sitting together in the tunnel in the Maracana. I’m really not convinced of this idea of unsporting behaviour.
I must confess that while Argentina received criticism for celebrating right in the faces of some of the Netherlands players at the conclusion of the shootout, there had certainly been plenty of provocation.
Otamendi 💀 pic.twitter.com/G7dbfYaww7
— B24 (@B24PT) December 9, 2022
On more than one occasion during the shootout, Dutch players taunted their opposite number as they were stepping up for their kick.
So this video right here explains why 🇦🇷 players taunted the Dutch players,before Lautaro walked to the ball he was mobbed 🤔.
— Owusu Bempah Ayala (@Akwasi_Ayala) December 10, 2022
My favorite part tho is Messi recognizing who really has been the hero and run straight to 🧤 Martinez in celebration pic.twitter.com/ulSYdKV7OS
Updated
Barry Glendenning has been on Football Daily duties today, and has this to say on a subject dear to his heart – England:
While these glorious England failures of the Southgate era may seem eminently preferable to the some of the more abject comedy prat-falls of yore – hello World Cup 2014 and Euro 2016! – the fact remains that, looked upon collectively, they can still be looked upon as failures and for England under Southgate, losing winnable matches against elite opposition at the business end of major tournaments is becoming a habit. The counter-argument, that at least England are consistently getting to the business end of major tournaments and therefore Southgate must be doing plenty right, is also fairly compelling.
Opinion on the 51-year-old appears to be divided among entrenched extremists, with one side thinking he can’t put a foot right and the other of a mind he can’t put a foot wrong. As is often the case, the truth is probably somewhere in between. An obviously good and decent man who is preposterously popular with his players, in his six years in the gig he has fostered a sense of togetherness that was previously absent from squads renowned for often toxic divisions. He has also overseen no shortage of good results on the pitch while behaving in a far more statesmanlike fashion than any of the four prime ministers in office during his tenure.
If Southgate has one obvious shortcoming it seems to be a reluctance or inability to make decisive gamechanging decisions from the touchline, a flaw which may have cost England dearly in a game full of our old friends, the fine margins, on Saturday night. Should he remain in his post for the next Euros, there is little evidence he will be any more reactive then.
Read more here: Football Daily – An England failure that is preferable to the abject comedy pratfalls of yore
I always feel a bit anxious when I get to this time of the day and I haven’t had any team news to give you. What I can tell you is that earlier Argentina’s Nicolás Tagliafico had this to say about the prospects ahead of tomorrow’s semi-final with Croatia:
We need to find a way in order not to suffer so much in our games. We are not machines, we are feeling emotions. This match is something crucial for us.
Messi is our captain, our leader. He motivates and pushes us. When we are on the pitch, we know that we have him by our side.
Don’t forget there is another World Cup next year, as the women’s tournament takes place in Australia and New Zealand. PA Sport is reporting that England have announced they will be based in New South Wales for the tournament.
Sarina Wiegman’s squad will stay in Terrigal north of Sydney and train at Central Coast Stadium, as for the first time at the Women’s World Cup competing countries will use dedicated team base camps.
The Lionesses have been drawn in Group D along with Denmark and China, with a fourth team to be decided via the play-offs. The tournament begins on 20 July, with the first England game against the play-off winners on 22 July.
Tom Lutz reports that the USA reportedly considered sending Gio Reyna home during Qatar World Cup:
USA midfielder Gio Reyna was almost sent home from Qatar for a perceived lack of effort during the team’s preparations for their World Cup opener against Wales, according to multiple reports.
The Athletic reported that Reyna was “walking around” while the rest of the team trained intensely in one session a few days before the Wales match, USA’s first game at a World Cup since 2014. It was not clear whether the 20-year-old’s performance was due to injury or disappointment that he was unlikely to start against Wales. The Athletic said senior US players spoke to Reyna about the situation several times before he eventually apologized to his teammates, and the matter was considered to be settled.
USA coach Gregg Berhalter was criticized by some fans for not starting the Wales match with Reyna, who has impressed during his time with Borussia Dortmund. At the time, Berhalter said Reyna was suffering from “a little bit of tightness”.
Read more here: USA reportedly considered sending Gio Reyna home during Qatar World Cup
Lovro Peraić writes to me to complain that Croatia are getting a bit of a rum do of it, and not being treated with the respect their record deserves.
Why is it that the still ‘reigning’ silver-medalists and next summer’s Nations League final four participants (via taking 6 points from Denmark and 4 points from France) are regarded so poorly by everyone? This is a team led by one of the best midfield trios the game has ever seen (Brozović was last season’s best midfielder in Serie A, Kovačić is a multiple Champions League winner with Real Madrid and Chelsea, and Luka Modrić is … well, Luka Modrić) which is complemented by the perhaps most promising young centre back in the world. And then there is Ivan Perišić, yet another Champions League winner who has scored in a World Cup semi-final and final. Yes, this team does have its flaws, but so does every team in this World Cup. This tiny and young nation has already won two medals in the five of the six possible World Cups [since they first appeared], and with this semi-final Croatia are on course to become one of the most successful teams of the 21st century. Yet eliminating (a not so special) Brazil was seen as a miracle and, again, this team are viewed as big underdogs against Argentina.
Personally I do think one of the joys of this World Cup final four is I honestly cannot tell you what I expect the final to be. You can make a case for every possible permutation of semi-final winners.
Here is a lovely cartoon view of that winning goal from Olivier Giroud on Saturday night. Deflection off Harry Maguire’s shoulder not depicted.
Un coup de tête synonyme de délivrance signé Olivier Giroud, déjà son 4ème but dans ce Mondial 🔵⚪🔴 #ANGFRA #EnergieduFoot #DLDNov pic.twitter.com/GIY2GHcLuz
— Énergie du Foot (@energiedufoot) December 11, 2022
Argentina are out on media duties today. It looks like it is coach Lionel Scaloni and Lyon defender Nicolás Tagliafico who have had microphones shoved in front of them today. I’ll have some quotes in due course.
I get to do Harry & Meghan. Meanwhile, Hannah Jane Parkinson has landed the absolute dream gig of a review of the best World Cup predicting animals:
It was a sure thing. Unanimous. England would beat France and reach their second successive World Cup semi-final. The meerkats at a Sussex zoo declared it, via the medium of clambering into an England flag-decorated bucket of whatever it is meerkats eat. Not a single meerkat put his faith in Olivier Giroud, there was no meerkat foresight when it came to Aurélien Tchouaméni firing a low, long-distance shot into the corner of Jordan Pickford’s goal. We should have known. World Cup psychic animals have burnt us before, their competence often hovering somewhere around the level of Derek Acorah.
Read more about Mani the parakeet, Achilles the cat and Taiyo the otter here: The World Cup’s psychic animals
Morocco’s social media manager is confident of adding to their World Cup scrapbook. And why shouldn’t they be? They’ve played Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Portugal for over six-and-a-half hours of football without conceding a goal yet to a European side in Qatar.
نتائج المنتخب الوطني في كأس العالم 💪🏻
— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) December 12, 2022
✅Group stages
✅Round of 16
✅Quarter-finals
🔜Semi-finals#DimaMaghrib 🇲🇦 #TeamMorocco #FIFAWorldCup @pumafootball pic.twitter.com/HYbBbZyyDS
While he was up in front of the media this morning in Qatar, Jürgen Klinsmann was being very complimentary about England. PA Media reports he told the press:
I think overall it was a very positive presentation from the English side in this entire tournament. This game, France v England, came just too early. It should have been a semi-final or the final.
But one team has to go home and unfortunately it was England, from an English perspective – but I think overall they played a very good tournament.
It’s still a team in growth. I think with this team it is still able to get better over the next few years. They are age-wise not kind of on the limit now by no means.
So they have a lot, a lot of talent coming through, getting better, getting more experienced. So they have had now three very positive tournaments with the one in Russia, obviously the Euros where they went to the final.
Now I think this was a very positive tournament, even if it’s already ended in the quarter-finals. So there’s more to come from this England side, in my opinion.
Klinsmann also had some thoughts on Harry Kane’s missed penalty, saying:
I was arguing the last couple of days and saying, ‘you know what, from the time that he whistles for the penalty until the time he gets a chance to actually execute the penalty there’s far, far too much time passing by’ and it works into your brain
I’m obviously a big Harry Kane fan and if Harry had the chance, maybe just put the ball down and shoot it, no big deal but the whole VAR situation, double-checking was it a penalty?
Time goes by and by and by and then obviously, you start thinking – overthinking – and you get to a point where you don’t execute the penalty any more the way you would have done it may be right after the whistle.
Away from the World Cup for a minute, and Suzanne Wrack, Sophie Downey and Sarah Rendell have got all the talking points from this weekend’s domestic Women’s Super League action in England.
Moving the World Cup into the European winter has disrupted not just domestic club football, but also slightly weirded out the international calendar. The European teams that failed at the quarter-finals stage have got the best part of three months now to dwell on that before they are thrust straight into qualifying for Euro 2024. Matchday one runs from the 23 March to 25 March 2023. Will coaches be staying? Will senior figures be quitting international football?
Two of the teams that got knocked out at the weekend face daunting tasks. The Netherlands open their Group A campaign away to France at the Stade de France on 24 March. The day before that, England’s next competitive fixture is away to Italy in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples. Portugal at least have a relatively easy fixture to get them going, home to Liechtenstein on the same night.
Jürgen Klinsmann has been discussing the contrast between Brazil and Argentina’s penalty shootout strategies at the technical study group briefing in Al Rayyan that I was being a little bit disparaging about earlier. Reuters quotes him saying:
We were freaking out, it was real drama. We tried to discuss the difference between the drama from the Brazil game compared to the Argentina v Netherlands game and we came up with some ideas.
After conceding the equaliser in the 117th minute, Brazil had no time to switch gears. From the disappointment of conceding a last minute goal to the penalty shootout, there was no time to settle and approach the shootout positively.
For Brazil, they should have maybe put their best shooter first, set the tone with the best penalty taker you have and then go down the rankings.
Klinsmann went on to say:
With Argentina, they had extra time to play, even with the shock of the Weghorst equaliser in the last minute. They had 30 minutes more to play. At the end of the game they were far more clearer going into the penalty shootout.
It was notable that talisman Lionel Messi stepped up and scored Argentina’s first penalty, whereas Brazil had already been eliminated before it was Neymar’s turn to take one.
Tom White over at the PA Sport data journalism unit has been crunching the numbers on Harry Kane and his penalty misses, to show that Saturday’s aberration was pretty much a once-in-a-blue-moon event.
It is the fourth time Kane has taken two penalties in the same England game and his first miss in those matches. Three times on the way to his record-equalling 53 England goals Kane has scored two penalties in a match as part of a hat-trick.
The first of those, against Panama, helped him to the Golden Boot at the last World Cup as he scored six times in total on England’s run to the semi-finals.
He repeated the feat in a 4-0 European Championship qualifying win over Bulgaria the following year and again, scoring four goals in all, as England beat San Marino 10-0 last November in the qualifying campaign for the current World Cup.
Kane is the only player to take two penalties in an England international on more than one occasion, excluding shootouts.
Some observers suggested Kane should have let somebody else take the second penalty but such a move has not helped England in the past.
Only twice have England had two penalties in a game taken by different players, in friendlies against Brazil in 1956 and Romania last year. Marcus Rashford scored the first against Romania but Jordan Henderson missed the second, while John Atyeo and Roger Byrne both missed in the 4-2 win over Brazil.
Kane is the third England player to both score and miss a penalty in the same game, following Sir Bobby Charlton in 1960 and Allan Clarke in 1971.
Only Kane himself knows, of course, but I personally can’t help feeling that the fact that he was facing his own club captain in goal in the shape of Hugo Lloris – who must have seen him take a lot of penalties – was playing on his mind.
I’ve just been having a quick watch of the highlights package of the opening game in Group F back on 23 November – Morocco and Croatia’s nil-nil draw. I’m not sure a single person in the world at the end of that game said “There you go, there’s two of your semi-finalists for sure”, but there are some cracking saves in it. You can refresh your memory here.
This technical study group meeting looks a little bit like “death by PowerPoint” from a distance.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said on Monday that allegations of bribery by World Cup host Qatar to burnish its image at the European Parliament were “worrisome”, after Belgian prosecutors charged four suspects with corruption.
Agence France-Presse reports this morning that the bribery claims have rocked the EU’s legislature and sparked calls for the bloc’s institutions to be put under the microscope to root out foreign influence.
“There is a process ongoing. Certainly the news is very worrisome - very, very worrisome,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. Borrell said no officials from the bloc’s diplomatic service or overseas missions were implicated in the allegations.
“There is a police and judiciary actions. We have to follow these actions,” Borrell said, adding he could not go beyond the “judiciary statements”.
“This is very, very, very grave accusations,” he said.
AFP also reports that Greek authorities have frozen the assets of European Parliament vice president Eva Kaili on Monday, after the Greek MEP was arrested on corruption charges over her alleged involvement in a graft scandal linked to Qatar.
The measure, which also applies to her relatives, includes “bank accounts, safes, companies and other financial assets”, said the Greek anti-money laundering authority president Haralambos Vourliotis.
Greek banks and state services have already been informed of the decision, the authority said. The 44-year-old former television presenter was charged with corruption on Sunday in Brussels.
That technical study group media briefing has started in Doha – on the panel are Jürgen Klinsmann, Pascal Zuberbuehler, Faryd Mondragon, Sunday Oliseh, Alberto Zaccheroni and Du-Ri Cha. I’ll bring you any significant quotes.
Photograph: Mark Metcalfe/FIFA/Getty Images
Do you know what this World Cup needs? A different ball. Well, that is at least what Fifa and Adidas think, as they have unveiled the Al Hilm, which will be the official match ball of the semi-finals and final. Kaka and Iker Casillas were pressed into duty to stand around with it at the launch in Doha.
The exciting announcement tells us that:
Al Hilm translates as “The Dream” in Arabic and features a unique graphic design, setting it apart from the Al Rihla used throughout the tournament so far. Al Hilm will be the official ball for the semi-finals and final. Just like Al Rihla, Al Hilm will feature the “Connected Ball” technology, which has proved a huge success in making semi-automated offside decisions faster and more accurate.
The press release doesn’t specify which ball will be in use for the third-place playoff, presumably because nobody cares.
Omar Momani has been drawing his favourite bits of the World Cup – including England going home – and today he has a very serene looking CR7.
To Cristiano Ronaldo haters #fifaworldcup pic.twitter.com/AnCsddm6Pi
— Omar Momani (@omomani) December 12, 2022
I am not saying it is a slow news day in Qatar today, but the latest pictures coming across the newswires are some empty chairs. We are expecting a technical study group media briefing later. I’d put a small wager on them saying it has been the most skilful and excellent tournament ever.
I did mention that a bit of club football news might start seeping in. Chelsea forward Armando Broja picked up a knee injury in the London club’s 1-0 friendly defeat by Aston Villa at the weekend, adding to manager Graham Potter’s problems in attack ahead of the Premier League restart.
Reuters reports that Potter told the club’s website “It doesn’t look positive at the moment but it’s too early to say. Fingers crossed but it is an awkward one.”
Chelsea face Bournemouth on 27 December when the Premier League restarts.
I promise not to keep harking on about the England game at the weekend* but one of the weirdest bits of commentary on ITV in the UK was surely when Sam Whatshisface said something along the lines of “England face an exit at an earlier stage than expected” having already pointed out that England had only ever won three of their nine previous World Cup quarter-finals. Surely that means the quarter-final stage is exactly when they are expected to exit? But you can prove anything with facts these days, I guess …
[*I will, sorry]
Jonathan Liew is in Doha for the Guardian, and today he is writing for us on the topic of the wailing and gnashing of teeth about England … or rather … the welcome lack of some of it:
There are no easy targets here, no effigies to burn. The common consensus, indeed, is that England played well. Which is nice. It’s lovely that England played well. England have been playing well for a few years now. And yet the result was the same that Roy Hodgson’s side achieved in 2012, the same as three Sven-Göran Eriksson sides, the same as Diego Maradona’s Argentina in 2010 and Germany in 1994. Which leads to a pointed and open-ended question: does any of the above really matter?
In essence, this is a question about what sort of footballing nation England wants to be these days. How much do England really need to win one of these tournaments? How should we want to measure success and failure? Where should we be pitching our expectations?
I use the first person here because really these are questions for all of us to answer: not just players and coaches and administrators and the media but fans and the public. There is a common view out there which seems to be that this time we can spare ourselves the finger-pointing and vindictiveness, set aside the lust for purgation and new blood, and simply applaud a fine performance by a fine team against slightly better opponents. This, in itself, probably represents progress. Top eight in the world: this is not a bad thing. Perhaps this is enough. Perhaps this is fine.
Read more here: Jonathan Liew – England ticked the boxes but did they need to win this World Cup enough?
It isn’t just the Morocco team who have been one of the stories of this tournament like no other in Qatar, but also their fans. Overnight Reuters has reported that Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc will operate 30 special flights to carry even more fans from Casablanca to Doha for the country’s Wednesday World Cup semi-final game against France.
Passengers on the promotionally priced round trips will add to thousands of Moroccans who are already attending the competition, and the flights would depart on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Amine El Amri is a sports journalist working for Le Matin in Morocco. Today he writes for the Guardian that Morocco’s Atlas Lions are roaring again and an entire nation roars with them:
For me the Moroccan journey in Qatar is renewing the feeling of pride among the people of my country. When the referee Facundo Tello blew the final whistle that ensured Morocco had beaten Portugal in the quarter-final there were eight players on the pitch who grew up in Morocco and learned their football in the country’s academies and clubs.
It showed that the talk about there being a difference between those born and trained abroad and those not was simply not true. The players have all been as one and they have all been legendary. This also sends a strong message to everybody in the kingdom, that no matter what hurdles and difficulties you face, if you put your heart and soul in your dreams, they might just come true.
And that message, of course, is far more important than any sporting achievement, including a World Cup semi‑final. When I first started as a journalist, a little over 10 years ago, my aim was to share my passion with a wider public to show just how much football, and sports in general, can transform the lives of not only the active stakeholders but literally everyone.
Read more here: Amine El Amri – Morocco’s Atlas Lions are roaring again and an entire nation roars with them
Preamble
Hello. It is a non-football day in Qatar, and by my reckoning we are roughly equidistant from the wailing and gnashing of teeth about England starting on Saturday night, and being able to sit down and enjoy Croatia v Argentina at 7pm GMT on Tuesday night.
Today we should have some media appearances from some of your semi-finallists, continued wailing and gnashing of teeth, not just from England but from Portugal, the Netherlands and Brazil too, and presumably club football gossip will begin rearing its head again. And maybe more cat news.
Join me here for the all the news and buildup during the day, and do drop me a line to martin.belam@theguardian.com with whatever is on your mind.
