Strabane man hails World Cup as ‘huge win’ for Qatar

NOW that the dust has settled on another World Cup, a Strabane native living in Qatar has hailed the tournament as a ‘huge win’ for the tiny country.

Colin Kelly has lived in Qatar for the past three years and believes that, despite the furore surrounding human rights and treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community, the World Cup has been a great thing for the oil-rich emirate.

He remarked, “The tournament definitely played out very well for Qatar. The locals are in celebration mode as they believe the tournament really showcased to the world what Qatar is capable of doing, giving the impression that they are a world player and that hosting any big tournament is possible. The alcohol ban imposed just days before the tournament began had the potential to be a hammer blow, but I think it was a positive move because young families were then encouraged to attend the games without fear of being exposed to drunken fans and it was praised on social media.

“I do believe that Qatar has come out of this shining, despite the picture painted prior to the tournament. The hooliganism which can sometimes accompany the World Cup was largely non-existent aside from a couple of minor skirmishes between the Mexican and Argentinian fans, who also got into a few scuffles with the Dutch after their semi-final clash.”

Billed as ‘Mbappe vs. Messi’ the tournament ended on the 18th with Argentina triumphing over France 4-2 on penalties after an intense 120 minutes of football, with the goal-laden final ending up 3-3 after extra time.

Concluding, Colin said he wouldn’t be surprised if Qatar played host to further events.

“With the success of the World Cup, and a truly pulsating final, Qataris proved they can pull off a major tournament without major disturbance which will only bode well in the future if they try to host more.”