Germany says goodbye to Qatar. After a short night, the DFB-Elf takes off from Hamad International Airport. The host country could hardly be happier. In a talk show, they wave after the national players. They show the gesture of the World Cup. What remains of Qatar?
In the city that never sleeps, someone rides up the escalators at Msheireb metro station at 2:45 am. Mshereib is the transfer station in central Doha. Start of construction 2013, completion 2019. Design award on top. This is no longer news after two weeks in Qatar. Everything is at least the best, if not even better.
If you want to take the subway to one of the World Cup games, you have to peel your way through this showpiece and out of the luxury subway seats, let the helpers show you the way and go somewhere. Luckily, people in Qatar do their thinking in these completely unimportant places. This saves energy when going from the Red Line to the Gold Line or from the Green Line to the Red Line.
If you want to go to Souq Waqif, you should get off here and walk the few hundred meters along one of the tram lines. The tramlines suddenly appear out of nowhere and disappear again. It goes past the hotel canyons in the city center and the Host City Media Center, where friendly reporters from the state broadcasters want to tease out exuberant praise for the host country from the journalists who have traveled to the event over wonderful baklava.
Moroccans still party in the narrow streets of the Souq Waqif. They keep the Arab dream alive. Morocco should have played against Germany and now they have to play against Spain. With the support of the fans, who scream everything to the ground and make every ball contact by the opponent an experience from hell. Your performances are special.
In general, someone is always partying, working or eating in Doha. Any time of the day. No matter how late, early, hot or "cold" it is. New York City has long lost the label "City that never sleeps" to this metropolis. Above all, Doha never sleeps because Qatar's two million migrant workers often do their jobs at night. Then, if they don't "disturb" tourists and now the World Cup visitors. The lawn mowers are started at 1.36 a.m. near the media center, the plants in the middle of the freeway are watered at 3.14 a.m. and the street is swept once at 2.49 a.m. and again at 5.27 a.m. It's the guest workers, like a waiter in your favorite restaurant around the corner, nine of them living in two-room apartments, where half the residents sleep at night and the other half during the day. shift sleep.
Of course, the muezzin also sings at night. There is no need to start with the taxi drivers. Not because of singing, of course. But because it's almost always on the go. "I work until 6 a.m., then I sleep until 10 a.m.," says one. So, like New York, "Sleepless in Seattle" packs a punch. And while we're at it: Las Vegas is considered a Sin City, but Doha offers just as many sins. Of course, they are completely different sins, although there is also a lot of betting on camel races.
Vancouver is affectionately nicknamed "The Big Smoke" by its residents - due to the frequent fog that mixes with factory exhaust fumes. Here it is more the desert haze. After the end of the DFB-Elf it wafts like a thick blanket of clouds over the desert around the Al-Bayt stadium. Almost cosy, if it weren't for the intense humidity.
City of Angels, City of Love, Holy City? Whether Doha can keep up, the DFB-Elf doesn't care. It's all about an orderly retreat. They were hardly part of Doha, part of this World Cup anyway. They live far away from all the fans and other teams in northern Qatar. From the top down, they explain to the rest how the world should behave, what values to uphold, and what forms of protest are best for doing so. Just days before German Economics Minister Robert Habeck proudly announces the Qatar deal, the national team is giving the rest of the participants lessons in protest. You put your hand over your mouth. You are, they say, condemned to silence.
The protest of the national team is one of the images of the tournament and one that of course immediately flies in the face of the DFB team. Already after the bankruptcy against Japan, mockery and ridicule is poured out over them. Germany provides the noise, but does not perform well on the pitch. This is difficult. Because sport and politics can no longer be separated. Because nobody has the desire and time to separate something. Both is possible. The gesture is debatable. Because no one has forbidden the Germans to keep their mouths shut, a whole country has been proving that for months. The criticism of Qatar is exuberant, anecdotal and yet important. If it lasts, if it is meant seriously and not just formulated because the headlights of the world are now illuminating the emirate on the Gulf.
In the city that never sleeps, someone rides up the escalators at the Msheireb metro station at 2:45 a.m. He is wearing a Germany jersey. Three hours ago, the DFB-Elf missed the round of 16 in the camel dung of Al-Khor. The lights have long gone out in Hugfling, Altenberg, Bad Salzdetfurth, Papenburg and Hallig Gröde. Tomorrow is also a day. The man in the Germany jersey looks up and has to endure the mockery of the others. They sing songs that can certainly be translated in a friendly way with "Schade, Deutschland, alles ist über".
The DFB-Elf did a lot in the two weeks in Qatar. Your performance in this world championship will be registered with great joy. In the sports talk show "Majlis" on the Qatar channel Al-Kass, they are overjoyed. "The entire Arab and Islamic nation prayed today that Japan would qualify," says one on the program, which is of course immediately shared on social media: "But the most important thing today is Germany's elimination." The talk show guests put their hands over their mouths and wave goodbye to Germany.
What will happen to the fuss over Qatar once the World Cup is over? What will happen to the excitement about Qatar when decisions are made at the DFB? Will the emirate fall into oblivion? Will offers of outrage continue to be made for months or will the excitement just move on? Outrage is always followed by exhaustion. What was it all about?
On the morning after the embarrassing end, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf spoke a few parting words to the cameras at the airport. Then it's finally over. For all. At the same time, the hotel's hairdresser, who comes from Bangladesh, sits adamantly on the sofa in front of his salon, where almost nothing is ever going on. He's sleeping.
