The Qatar Fifa World Cup is a shocking, preposterous idea on every level and never should have happened. Please consider my humanitarian, philosophical, sporting, practical and bibulous objections as duly lodged and, now that we’re at the tasty sharp end of the tournament, allow me to get hypocritically sucked right into the football.
I suppose a footnote is required here about the very first champions — Uruguay in 1930 — who boycotted the second World Cup in Italy in a fit of pique because the Italians had not bothered to attend their event. The Spaniards were the bees’ knees in 2010 but in 2014 they were rapidly eliminated after hammerings by Holland and Chile. And the Germans swaggered through the 2014 cup in Brazil before, not for the first time in national history, retreating from Russia ignominiously as bottom of their group in 2018.but what are the reasons for such a long losing streak by champions?
Of those 14 unsuccessful title defences, eight have been headed by the Cup-winning coach and two by assistants from the previous campaign. And France has Didier Deschamps backing up again this time.