Argentina, the name and predictions
World Cup Final
#WorldCup Argentina: Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Spanish conquistadors exported around 150,000 tonnes of silver from Central and South America. Silver was so significant that they named a country after it: Argentum - Latin for Silver.
I am reading this fantastic book by Kassia St Clair titled “The Secret Lives of Colour."
(That’s a photo from the author’s Twitter account, the hardcover edition is more beautiful)
In terms of predictions, 538 proposes that Argentina is a slight favorite. (That seems to agree with the betting market). We will know soon.
The recent scandal involving Qatar trying to buy influence in the European Parliament is still unfolding. (Politico has a who-is-who involved in it). It’s worth remembering a few stories about the extraordinary decision to grant the right to host one of the most important sporting events in the world to a tiny emirate with no football culture.
The year was 2006: I was in Doha, Qatar, for a presentation of my team, the South Korean Bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics (Russia eventually won, and Sochi hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics). During my stay, I clearly remember colleagues in strategic communications working for Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup, arguing for this new “cool-air” technology that would allow the competition to take place during the summer. Many of us were convinced that the entire proposition was absurd. Summer in the desert is unforgivably hot.
Eventually, Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup. The football teams explained to FIFA that there was no way they would allow their most valuable players to die from heat stroke in the middle of the desert. FIFA took the obvious step: despite maintaining that a World Cup always takes place during the summer, it promptly moved it to Winter (causing havoc to national football championships around the world).
The whole idea of having Qatar organize the World Cup over countries like the USA didn’t make any sense back then. Today we know what we always suspected:
“American investigators and FIFA itself have since said multiple FIFA board members accepted bribes to swing the vote to Qatar. A broad corruption investigation into how FIFA conducts business led to dozens of arrests.” Read a great summary of the scandal surrounding Qatar, FIFA, and the World Cup, by Tariq Panja and Rory Smith for The New York Times.
I will enjoy watching the game with friends, watching it on TV, nevertheless.