A Reporter at Large December 12, 2022 Issue At Qatar's World Cup, Where Politics and Pleasure Collide The first ten days were soccer as it is, rather than as you want it to be. By Sam Knight December 3, 2022 The entire world was in Doha, in generally small proportions. Pan-Arab feeling was strong, and a Saudi victory kick-started the tournament. Photographs by Max Pinckers for The New Yorker Content This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. A smiling ghost came up through the floor. La'eeb, the mascot of this year's World Cup, in Qatar, is a bodiless figure in a thobe, the white gown favored by the men of the Arabian Peninsula. He materialized during the tournament's opening ceremony, sometime after Morgan Freeman asked Ghanim al-Muftah, a Qatari YouTuber, who was born without legs, whether he was welcome in the country—he was—and before Jung Kook, of the Korean boy band BTS, sent the mostly Qatari crowd into a conservative mode of ecstasy. La'...
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