In the Madhattan cafe in Beirut, supporters crowded around screens to watch Wednesday's World Cup semi-final between France and Morocco. Samer, 22, was clear about why he was supporting Morocco: “They are the underdog, they support the Palestinian cause and it is the first time that an Arab country has made it so far."
In the Dubai Media City fan zone, thousands of fans supporting Morocco crammed to watch the game, bellowing their support. Before kick-off, hundreds of others were queuing to get a glimpse of screens. It was a similar picture across much of the Middle East and North Africa.
In the 60,000-seat Al Bayt stadium, where the match was being held, the vast majority of supporters were Moroccan, a fact made clear by the epic noise that followed every time their team won the ball. Sheikh Tamim, the Emir of Qatar, was also in attendance; he has been to every match played by an Arab side during the tournament.
Every World Cup is remembered for one or two things. It is impossible to see how Morocco's record-breaking and unifying journey, as demonstrated by these stories, will not be one of them in 2022.
In that sense, their 2-0 defeat to reigning champions France on Wednesday evening is far from a failure.
In purely footballing terms, Morocco have kept crowds across the world entertained, gained invaluable experience in how to play the toughest international games and showed the mounting force of African and Arab teams. Morocco is now the first African and Arab team to get to a semi-final. Other Arab squads have beaten both World Cup finalists – France and Argentina – in earlier stages of the tournament: Saudi Arabia in their 2-1 victory against Argentina and Tunisia in their 1-0 victory over France.
Morocco's time outside play shows that football matters beyond the game itself. Kylian Mbappe's embrace of Paris Saint-Germain teammate Achraf Hakimi was perhaps the greatest sign of all from Wednesday evening that true sportsmanship always finds unity, even in defeat. Sofiane Boufal's dance with his mother after an earlier victory showed the joy of the game and served as a tribute to the families behind remarkable footballers. A viral story of a UAE-based dentist giving a Moroccan fan a full set of dentures after he was bullied for having a "bad smile” during his celebrations, shows the positive energy that sport can beam across the internet – and societies.
Morocco's journey has not been without less happy stories. France saw violent confrontations following Wednesday’s match. Ten-thousand French police were mobilised. Tragically, a teenager lost his life in the city of Montpellier.
But feelings of division during this World Cup have been overshadowed by positives ones. A good place to see this is in Qatar itself. Matches have been remarkably peaceful, with notably less violence than in other international football tournaments. There were some western complaints in the build-up when Qatari authorities decided not to sell alcohol in stadiums. But with such a convivial atmosphere dominating this World Cup, there is no denying that the decision might well have contributed to this being one of the most family-friendly tournaments in many years.
Back in Beirut's Madhattan cafe, a similarly positive atmosphere descended as well. Samer also said, in fluent French, that "France was his second choice", and that he would support them in the final against Argentina.
More than most, Lebanon is a country that deserves respite, even a brief one, from modern travails and a difficult history. Samer's positive attitude, and that of the many fans around him, could hardly be a more apt symbol of how football can bring the world together. This year, Morocco can be thanked in particular for doing just that.
Read more about the coronavirus
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More on Quran memorisation:
Profile
Name: Carzaty
Founders: Marwan Chaar and Hassan Jaffar
Launched: 2017
Employees: 22
Based: Dubai and Muscat
Sector: Automobile retail
Funding to date: $5.5 million
Match info
Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Jersey 147 (20 overs)
UAE 112 (19.2 overs)
Jersey win by 35 runs
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
|
1.
|
United States
|
|
2.
|
China
|
|
3.
|
UAE
|
|
4.
|
Japan
|
|
5
|
Norway
|
|
6.
|
Canada
|
|
7.
|
Singapore
|
|
8.
|
Australia
|
|
9.
|
Saudi Arabia
|
|
10.
|
South Korea
|
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
SPECS
Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
Engine: 5.7-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 362hp
Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
The Lost Letters of William Woolf
Helen Cullen, Graydon House
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
