Thousands hung within the neighborhood of the Lusail Stadium, to soak within the environment, to totally take in the slice of historical past they’d seen. Some Argentinian followers seemed genuinely stoned, most had been crying on one another’s shoulders. “I am 62, I have seen Diego Maradona and Mario Kempes winning the World Cup,” says Antonio Lopez. “But this is the greatest football match I have ever seen. And this could be the greatest football match I would ever see. I don’t know what to tell you. I cannot explain what I am going through,” he provides, pausing and choking for phrases.

The tune of Messi—Muchachos, esta noche me emborracho—blared out from metros and buses, streets and alleys, the vitality of the rendition undiminished. Marianna quips: “It says we are gonna get drunk tonight. But where is the alcohol?” she asks, after which provides: “The game itself took us on a trip.” The dance and tune by no means stopped; it could not for a very long time.

Over 2 hours after the sport and at 2.00 within the morning the occasion continues again on the Lusail metro station. I can solely think about how excited the Argentina followers in Qatar are in the mean time and better of luck to them – their supporters need to see Lionel Messi elevate the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/v7l2nLcxE1

— Douglas Bagley (@dougbagleyfdl) December 18, 2022

But amidst all of the jubilation, they didn’t overlook to console French followers in the event that they discovered one. Near the exit of a metro station, a French fan in an Antoine Griezmann shirt was sulking, exhaling thick fumes from his e-cigarette. An Argentine wrapped his arms round him and consoled after which swapped their jerseys. When the hangover of the World Cup ends, it’s such moments that might be missed as Qatar reacquaints itself with a life after the World Cup. A boring, tedious life.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi holds the trophy as he celebrates together with his teammates after successful the World Cup remaining soccer match towards France on the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Some of the vacationers have fallen in love with the nation too. For the final fortnight, Mateo Perez from Rosario, has been studying extra about Qatar. He landed in Doha in time for Argentina’s spherical of sixteen sport, however the extra days he spent within the metropolis the extra intrigued was concerning the metropolis’s tradition, delicacies and historical past. In spare time, he would go to the nationwide museum, library, and soak within the old-world grandeur for Souq Waqif and Msheireb. What was presupposed to be a footballing pilgrimage has turned out to be a cultural journey.

For him, he says, the journey was an eye-opener. “Back home, there was fear of CIDs sniffing behind you, putting you in prison if you wear shorts and sleeveless tees, about watching the game with military force looking over your shoulder. The vicar in the church even advised me to cancel my trip because there has been gross human rights violation. I was a bit scared. Bunch of nonsense, I feel now,” he says.

But he would depart on Tuesday, and so would hundreds, plunging the nation into solitude.

🇦🇷 Argentina parade the World Cup trophy round Doha #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/JT4OYdUepE

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) December 19, 2022

The nation awakened late, late because it by no means had after an evening most unforgettable of their lives. It’s the beginning of the week-days, but it surely didn’t matter, they awakened groggily, nonetheless intoxicated with the magic they beheld on Sunday night time. The solely busy freeway is the one which results in the 2 airports, on the seafront, because the vacationers are reluctantly, tearfully hurrying again to their houses with a trove of reminiscences that they’d maintain onto a lifetime.

It was not what they could have imagined Qatar to be, however the Qatar World Cup was enjoyable, thrilling and past the wildest creativeness. And progressively, after a month-long pageant of soccer, with all its uncooked thrills, the nation would slip right into a suffocating silence, clutched within the nostalgia for some time, sliding into an vacancy, into the pre-World Cup days.

The vacuum could be sudden. For a month they had been in a dream-land; on the tiny peninsula had been the eyes of the world, the color of the globe. Never a vacationer vacation spot, the nation was residence to tens of millions from around the globe, from Ecuador to Mexico, Cameroon and Serbia.

You might hear most languages and dialects on the planet, see quite a lot of totally different costumes, faucet your toes to essentially the most indigenous of percussion devices. A rustic of lower than three million inhabitants and not more than the scale of Mumbai noticed a mass of humanity thrice as a lot.

But in a matter of days, they’d stumble into vacancy. The metro, the lifeblood and rendezvous for socialising of the vacationers, would have as a lot house to play soccer. The bustling cobbled-stoned alleys of Souq Waqif would now not bustle. Corniche would by no means be as packed because it had been throughout the World Cup. The fan parks are being dismantled. You might take heed to the spluttering cranes. Qatar is crawling again to normalcy, to the times earlier than the World Cup. To the tedium of on a regular basis life. Football was a refuge. It now not exists.

What of the eight stadiums? They would really feel the loneliest. For a month, they had been abuzz and energetic. The sand beneath the concrete construction would inform a story of sweat and tears and pleasure the gamers had shed. Some could be dismantled and reassembled in Africa, some would wait for his or her subsequent second of glory, when it turns into abuzz once more. Some could be transformed into workplaces, some could be leased to native golf equipment. Some would keep as emblems of the times Qatar hosted the World Cup.

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They would miss the gamers, the followers, and the music. Perhaps greater than the nation, it’s the stadiums that might shed tears on the glory that has handed, of the magic that was. How a few years and a long time would cross after they meet once more, when the World Cup, or an occasion of such-like stature returns to the nation. And the times and nights after Sunday shall be lengthy and boring. And with teary eyes, it bid farewell to the followers and soccer.