U.S. first team in as fans, trophy arrive for Qatar 2022 World Cup

Qatari officials have promised a successful World Cup despite the West’s misgivings.

The United States (U.S.) and Australia are the first teams to arrive in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off this weekend, AFP reports.

Qatar is the smallest country to ever host the World Cup and according to predictions, more than one million fans will be in the country to watch the competition. Already, some of the fans have arrived in the country for what promises a great show, albeit with some controversies.

The report states that safety barriers have gone up across Doha ahead of the event.

It said that the trophy, which will be presented to the winning team on December 18, returned from a world tour in time for next Sunday’s opening game when hosts Qatar take on Ecuador.

FIFA’s pleas to ‘focus on the football’ have struggled, however, against an international spotlight on Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ community. Qatar has angrily rebuffed most of the attacks and local media, yesterday, blasted the ‘arrogance’ of some Western countries.

“It seems to have been all we have read about in recent weeks,” said Ringo Gonzalez, an Ecuadoran based in Germany, who was among fans gathering at the World Cup countdown clock on the Doha seafront early Sunday. “It will be good to see the teams finally doing something. I want Ecuador to do well and to see Lionel Messi and the other big names in action.”

Organisers say that 2.9 million of the 3.1 million tickets have been sold and scores of hopeful fans waited outside the FIFA ticketing centre hoping that scarce tickets become available for top games.

Matthew Coleman, an Australian living in Doha, and his Dutch friend, Gijs Beenker, left empty-handed because there were