In the age of football there is not much left to copy the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, but Doha's dream to host the important sports forum clashes with the most frequent feature on Twitter, saying that "Doha is drowning."
With the Qatari boast of spending lavishly on the World Cup, at a rate of half a billion dollars a week, according to the government's acknowledgment in February last year, the floods that hit Qatar on Saturday washed away a large part of the hopes held at the World Cup.
One day after the rains, traffic was blocked in the streets, air traffic was disrupted, water was leaking into houses and shops and universities closed.
Qatar Airways had to divert some of its flights, which was a major logistical embarrassment, and planes bound for Doha were forced to divert to other destinations.
The picture that alerted to the dangers of floods on the World Cup was the sinking of the Qatar Club Stadium almost completely, as the water level rose to close to a meter.
In addition to the dilapidated infrastructure in the Qatari capital and its environs, the picture reveals huge losses expected for the facilities set up in preparation for the World Cup, at the cost of tens of billions of dollars.
It seems that the extraordinary date of the World Cup, which has delighted the Qataris, could turn into a major tournament in the world.
The next World Cup is set for the first time in history, away from the summer, between November 21 and December 18, a very likely date for similar rains in Doha.
The floods, the country's "panic triangle" linked to the World Cup, are compounded by allegations of corruption surrounding the choice of a small emirate to host a major event and the serious violations of World Cup workers.
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