November 21, 2022
The brief from today:
Teams back away from One Love campaign
One of the issues in Qatar receiving substantial attention from other countries regards LGBTQ+ rights. With Qatar being a conservative Muslim nation, the approach to this matter is greatly varied from how many in the Western world view things. Due to the perceived lack of rights for those in this community within Qatar, a group of 10 European countries made the intention to align with the “One Love” campaign: a movement that draws attention to equal rights for the LGBTQ+ cause. As part of this, the participating European countries planned to have their various captains wear a rainbow armband in solidarity with the movement, but also to protest the state of affairs in Qatar. FIFA had recently sent a letter to participating countries asking that they put political matters aside during the tournament, and instead focus on football. There was a fair bit of backlash in response to this correspondence, specifically from Western nations, while CAF and CONMEBOL voiced their support for FIFA. As the World Cup commenced, today’s matches with England and Wales playing Iran and the US respectively, were the first two matches where captains would potentially wear the One Love armbands. Harry Kane of England, and Wales captain Gareth Bale, had both voiced their intention to display their solidarity with the cause, but suddenly things changed. The moment FIFA announced that they would sanction such political statements, the tune of those two countries changed. With the threat of a one match suspension, both countries backed away from their initial intentions and both captains wore regular armbands. Considering all the fanfare that was made over these acts of protest, it was intriguing to see how a suspension quickly shifted the approach. There is a wonder just how much support there actually is for the cause being highlighted, versus how much of it was more about publicity.
European countries backed away from the One Love armband following possible FIFA sanctions
Musah sets US record
The US opened their World Cup campaign today when they took on Wales in Group B. Wales were making their first appearance in the competition since 1986, while the US were back in the competition after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. On an individual basis, there was another noteworthy stat from the match that involved US midfielder: Yunus Musah. Upon being included in the starting lineup, the 19-year-old became the youngest ever US player to be in the first 11 for the country at a World Cup. In addition to that, the Valencia midfielder also marked the first time a player from La Liga represented the US at the World Cup. As for the match itself, a late equalizer from Wales captain, Gareth Bale, meant that the match would eventually finish as a 1-1 draw. Perhaps it wasn’t the victory that Musah would have preferred to go along with his history setting night, but the teenager can still be proud of his personal achievement.
19-year-old Yunus Musah became the youngest starter for the US at the World Cup