From left: Barcelona’s French defender Samuel Umtiti, former Dutch player Ronald de Boer, Al Sadd’s Spanish legend Xavi Hernandez, Mainz’s Dutch midfielder Nigel De Jong and former Dutch star Ruud Gullit during the Lusail Stadium’s design unveiling ceremo
Doha: Spanish legend Xavi Hernandez is confident Qatar will host an ‘amazing’ FIFA 2022 World Cup, saying the country is ready to give a unique experience to football fans from all over the globe.
The former Barcelona captain, who is the brand ambassador of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the design unveiling ceremony for Lusail Stadium, which will host the opening and final matches of the 2022 World Cup, on Saturday night in Lusail City.
“I am very excited as an ambassador of the Supreme Committee. Qatar is preparing everything well. I think they (Qatar) are ready. These stadiums are amazing. Everybody will be surprised a lot that how Qatar will organise the World Cup. I think the country is ready in everything,” said Xavi.
The Al Sadd midfielder said preparations of team Qatar, which will make World Cup debut on home soil, were also on the right track.
“I think they are preparing very well. The team is doing very well. They have a very good coach in Felix Sanchez. He is a brilliant coach, so they can compete. Let’s see at the Asian Cup in January.
“They have a culture of football. They are ready to compete. Everybody can see that in the last games they won against Switzerland and drew with Iceland. So they are ready and they have time, four years more,” he said.
The current Al Sadd captain, who has earlier showed his desire to coach Qatar, hinted to retire as a footballer next year to start his coaching career.
“I am preparing as a coach, maybe next season I will start as a coach. At the moment, I am still a player at Al Sadd,” said the 38-year-old.
Commenting on Spain’s chances at Qatar 2022, Xavi, backed his national side to bounce back from heartbreak in Russia 2018 where they were stunned by the hosts in the last-16 stage.
“Spain are doing well. Luis Enrique is the best coach. I know him very well that he can do best in the national team, but it’s still early to predict something,” he said.
World Cup in Qatar a big ‘advantage’ for fans: Sneijder
Meanwhile, Dutch star Wesley Sneijder said Qatar 2022 will offer huge advantage to fans who will visit the country for the World Cup.
“It (the World Cup in Qatar) won’t be different. The only difference is that you can now watch three games in the same day. So all these kind of things are an advantage. Let’s take for example Brazil, South Africa and Russia, it was impossible to travel to watch all the games in three days. Now you have this advantage and for sure the organisation will be perfect.
“The changes that I have seen over one year, it’s amazing. The roads, the parks that they are building, they are really making Qatar better and ready for the 2022 World Cup,” Sneijder, who captains Al Gharafa, said.
No problem with Qatar weather: De Boer
Dutch great Frank de Boer, while backing Qatar to deliver a successful World Cup, assured fans that the weather in Qatar will not affect the mega tournament.
“I don’t see any problem with the weather,” he said.
“Right now outside it is 18-25 degrees (Celsius), which is perfect for playing football. So I am not worried about it. The most beautiful thing is it is so compact. You can see three games in one day. The most important thing is that you can feel that there is a World Cup going on,” he added.
“In Russia, they did a great job but it is so spread out that you don’t really feel that a World Cup is going on. A World Cup should be for the fans. What I experienced in South Africa, in Johannesburg where so many teams were together. The fans together celebrating the World Cup. We are going to experience this even more,” said De Boer.
