Doha | Imagine it’s the World Cup and no one is watching…
Interest in the 22nd title fight is lower than ever and TV ratings are negative as a result. Especially away from the pitch, the tournament has been a topic so far, and it’s almost always a negative one. It’s about the beer bans for fans, the One Love debate at official level, the silent protests of the players before kick-off and the bad decisions of the VAR.
But one person is right in the middle: Pablo Strauss, the cult Argentine from Cologne known from the steak temple “El Gaucho” on the Hohenstaufenring, embarked on the 4800 km journey into the desert with his son Diego and describes his report- K Impressions.
The Cologne waiter “El Gaucho” describes the situation of fans in Qatar
“I’ve taken off the whole World Cup and I want to take the trophy to Germany,” says the football-mad waiter with a wink. “After 1986, 2006 and 2010, this is my fourth time to watch a live World Cup, it’s always a celebration for me that you can live and a good thing for the world forever. No matter what anyone says, and despite the problems of politics.
We are all here together, regardless of religion or background. The atmosphere is good, obviously – in our case – it could be better after the 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia. After the Saudis scored their second goal, my son and I looked at each other and didn’t understand the world anymore…”
Because the sensational defeat of the Argentines around the genius Lionel Messi and associates followed Pablo and Diego live in the Lusail arena. “This is football. But against the Mexicans we usually always win”, he hopes in the next duel between the gauchos on Saturday, in which everything is at stake for them, and he believes in Messi: “Messi is the greatest footballer there is, he is the best of all, no one can compare to him. Great Messi.”
As long as the Argentines are in the tournament, the two from Cologne will remain in Qatar. “I can’t complain, people are very nice here, everyone who works here, including the police officers, made us feel welcome,” said Strauss, who named two of his sons after former Argentine player Diego Maradona and Max Rodriguez. , “We fans live in a kind of fan village with small houses, the trip to the stadiums is free for us”.
And the beer?
Pablo laughs, but the prices are really high there: “When we arrived, we went to a bar, there we paid 16 euros for a 0.5l beer. A 3-litre column would have cost seventy euros…”
