November 6, 2022
The brief from today:
Bundesliga fans make Qatar statements
The World Cup is now two weeks away, and with club matches nearing the break before the tournament, various supporters of teams in Germany displayed banners this weekend protesting against Qatar. Earlier this week, FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, co-authored a letter that was sent to all 32 teams participating in the World Cup, and the message was that each country should focus on football rather than making political statements about the host nation. Of course the response to this directive was far from positive. While the countries involved didn’t say much regarding the correspondence, the media and fans in general were far less reserved. Bundesliga supporters made their feelings clear during league matches yesterday and today, with Bayern Munich fans using banners to highlight the number of deaths by migrant workers in Qatar, and Dortmund fans calling for a boycott on the the tournament. FIFA’s attempt to suppress such discourse with their letter this week was clearly ill advised, and with various issues still ongoing in Qatar, it’s no surprise that German fans took this approach. The issue now is whether further displays of protest will occur before the club seasons pause, and/or if similar things will take place at the World Cup itself.
Borussia Dortmund fans didn’t mince their words regarding the upcoming World Cup in Qatar
Galtier accuses PSG players of restraint
Following the Ligue 1 match between PSG and Lorient, the Parisians’ coach, Christophe Galtier, had some choice words for some of his players. While speaking to the press after his team’s 2-1 win, Galtier said the following: “Automatically, the World Cup is in the heads of the players, when they’re hearing that such and such a player is injured and is ruled out of the World Cup. There will always be a piece of news that will make them doubt. For some, there was a certain restraint, we were sometimes a bit fearful in the duels.” The PSG coach isn’t necessarily saying anything that fans and other coaches haven’t also thought of, but the fact that he has gone public with it is noteworthy. It was only a few days ago that the media in France reported that Lionel Messi had actually requested to be uninvolved in PSG’s last match prior to the World Cup, but this was countered by other sections of the press. With Galtier now making these comments about restraint, however—even though Messi didn’t actually play in the match—it does add fuel to the fire regarding what many already suspect about Messi and many others.
Christophe Galtier is bit suspicious of some PSG players’ commitment prior to the World Cup