Legends FIFA Staff / 2022 World Cup / Behind the Scenes / SOFOOT.com

Blue team 0-3 Yellow team

Gomes, Del Piero (sp) and Sasi for the yellows

Less than 48 hours have passed since Youssef En-Nesyri touched the sky at this Al-Thumama stadium, where the cover is already in shape. gahfia (traditional headdresses in vf) meaningless. The guards no longer have anyone to look for or vote for, the press room, the cubicles reserved for journalists in the gallery begin to be dismantled, and nine out of ten seats are removed. The World Cup won’t be back here, except for the 60-minute final round, which looks less like football than a little circus act. On this non-match day, FIFA organized a small exhibition meeting among themselves “Legendary Ambassadors” and a group of workers living in Qatar. Some of them participated in the Workers’ Cup, an initiative that promoted workers on the Stadium grounds in a football tournament and was filmed to provide content for the documentary. This Monday they had the right to play alongside some former football stars. “It’s good to have this little celebration with people who have been there for a long time building these stadiums.Youri Djorkaeff exposes. This proves that we are well aware of what is happening around us. We didn’t talk about their daily lives because they want to talk about football when they’re in these locker rooms with us. They are all footballers crazy in the spirit. The beauty of football is that we are all the same on the field. »

Infantino whistles

For these veterans, invited by the organizers, this little outing is also an opportunity to stretch their legs after about a month wearing their jeans in the chairs of the presidential boxes, even if a core of hyperactive people meet Do you. Five each lunchtime to eliminate the previous day’s cocktails. Therefore, warming will be limited to a small cleaning of additives and ball exchange. At 18:02, the ceremony takes place with the same soundtrack and the same entrance of the players as in the official games, minus the pyrotechnic show. More than 5,000 spectators, including families and friends of the staff, settled into the side stands without making waves, with several South American TV stations filming the event with the bimbo always on camera to capture the game’s loudest names. sheet but with feigned enthusiasm. The show is happening at the back: the yellows led by Alessandro Del Piero on one side and the blues on the other lined up behind Cafu. Gianni Infantino in the middle.

The FIFA president wore shorts and a referee’s shirt to take advantage of the light from the stadium’s floodlights. As he committed to every one of the 64 World Cup matches, even if he had to be chained the first time here and the second time there, the Italian-Swiss was nowhere near the sixty-fifth meeting. After a short welcome, he can drop the microphone and grab the whistle to get down to business. After five minutes and two departures (the rhythm goes on the piano), this judge The ephemera stops the clock and announces his substitution by the professional referee, not forgetting to show Alessandro Del Piero a yellow card. It is impossible to know the content of the remarks, but the number of deaths on construction sites was certainly not a question here. Let’s play, but not too soon.

triangular terry

The yellows clearly exercise a dominance. Michel Salgado pushes down the right, switching Alessandro Del Piero who heads the ball past Nuno Gomes at the far post. Here are the representatives of three countries that were eliminated or did not participate in this World Cup, which can give a small smile to their countrymen. On the French side, Youri Djorkaeff is back on the run, with Sabri Lamouchi taking a bit of a loan. “make room for others” . Proves himself by leading to a penalty converted by Claude Makélélé Il Pinturicchio With perfect counterpoint to former Omani international Ali Al-Habsi. The Italian, who scored two goals in the World Cup in his career, was likely to leave “other” shining, but he preferred to think about his stats. So much for the symbol. Cafu then competes with his former teammate in a sprint race Rossonero Clarence Seedorf, showing that he was in particularly good shape, “As if he wanted to play in another world championship” According to Djorkaeff. In the second round, the Blues, who were placed in the center by their head coach Mario Kempes, and especially John Terry, will multiply the failures.

In the first kick, the ex-Chelsea defender tries to replicate the same strike as Harry Kane on Saturday, but only manages to hit the seats in row G. He then spots Sudanese goalkeeper Sami Magzoub. Deco eat a small bridge – lying on his cross strike. In the end, the Englishman has to get hold of the ball only to extend Kafu’s mina into an empty net, but accidentally puts it back into the keeper’s arms. Strongly tackled by a staff member, Zanetti then looks to close the gap but the Argentine is offside. Marco Materazzi won’t even need a header to see his team win since his teammate workers Libyan Abdulrahman Sasi closes the mark. 3-0, the magical game ends with a small salute to the already more scattered public, the Qatari tradition obliges. Last word for Youri Djorkaeff: “There is a kind of lightness in these events because we know how difficult it is to reach this level. So it’s just happiness and sharing” . Unfortunately, none of these employees were able to express their feelings about this moment “share” .

Yellow team: Magzoub – Salgado, Materazzi, Gomaa, Roberto Carlos – Lamouchi, Essien, Seedorf – Del Piero, Nuno Gomes, Campos.

Blue Team: Al-Habsi – Cafu, Terry, Djourou, Zanetti – Deco, Makélélé, Djorkaeff – Cahill, Kharja, Vieiri.

By Mathieu Rollinger, at Al-Thumama Stadium