The World Cup kicks-off on November 20 as Qatar take on Ecuador at the AlBayt Stadium in Al-Khor. The final will be held on December 18 at the Lusail stadium
Thirty-two teams will be competing to dethrone holders France, who won the 2018 World Cup in Russia, defeating Croatia 4-2 in the final.
This year’s World Cup is the first to be held in a Middle Eastern country. The tournament has been rescheduled to the northern hemisphere’s winter months to avoid the intense summer heat in Qatar.
Qatar, the smallest country to have hosted soccer’s global showpiece tournament, is preparing for an estimated 1.2 million visitors during the World Cup.
Thousands of fans are expected to stay in neighboring countries like tourism hub the United Arab Emirates and fly in to Doha for matches due to limited accommodation in Qatar.
Ahead of the World Cup, Qatar has faced intense criticism from human rights groups and media over its treatment of migrant workers.
A Guardian newspaper analysis in Feb. 2021 concluded 6,500 South Asian migrants had died in Qatar since 2010 and the International Labor Organization has said Qatar is not adequately reporting worker deaths.
A member of the World Cup organizing committee said last week that Qatar acknowledges gaps in its labor system but the tournament has allowed the country to make progress on issues related to workers’ rights.
World Cup holders France have a long list of injuries that coach Didier Deschamps must take into consideration over the next few days although the preliminary list is long enough to include players in a race against time to be fit for Qatar.
The number of players in the final World Cup squads has been increased by three from 23 to 26 for the tournament in Qatar.
FIFA said in June the decision to expand squads was made “given the need to retain additional flexibility due to the unique timing” of this year’s competition, which will interrupt the European club season.
Five FIFA World Cup underdog stories
The story of the FIFA World Cup replete with dazzling displays from gifted footballers has unfolded dramatically over the years. There have been heartaches and joy, upsets and surprises, a cauldron of every human emotion thrown in all manner of combinations, felt as much by the players as those witnessing them.
They are the grand tales, gladiatorial displays of effort, strength and discipline. But there are also herculean feats from the unheralded practitioners of the game and their gigantic Goliath-slaying acts.
So, to honor the little twists in the tale, we look back and celebrate the underdogs’ many dates with destiny.
USA 1-0 England; Group 2 league match; Belo Horizonte, Brazil – 1950
America, the new powerhouse at the world stage post World War II, showed its British friends little mercy when they landed for their first World Cup adventure in 1950. Team USA which included a mailman, a paint-stripper, a dish-washer and a hearse driver shocked England, which had an array of professional stars in its ranks.
Joe Gaetjens a Haitian dishwasher in New York scored the only goal of the game.
West Germany 3-2 Hungary; Final; Bern, Switzerland – 1954
It was the ‘Miracle of Bern’, when West Germany still struggling to recover from the social and economic implications of Nazi rule and World War II slay the till then undefeated Hungarian team, better known as the ‘Magical Magyars’.
Trailing by two goals within the first eight minutes of the game, West Germany leveled the score in the next 10 minutes, before Helmut Rahn found the winner in the 84th minute.
German historian Joachim Fest, writing eloquently, described the moment as the founding day of the German Republic: “It was a kind of liberation for the Germans from all the things that weighed down upon them after the Second World War. July 4, 1954 is in certain aspects the founding day of the German Republic.”
North Korea 1-0 Italy; Group 4, final league match; Middlesbrough, England – 1966
The diminutive North Koreans warmed the hearts of their English hosts when a strike three minutes from half time from Army Corporal Park Do-Ik handed the Asian nation an unlikely win over pedigreed Italy.
The Chollima (a mythical winged horse that cannot be mounted by a mortal, a symbol of the nation’s revolutionary zeal), in its quarterfinal against Portugal, raced to a 3-0 lead by the 25th minute, but a magical display from the tournament’s highest scorer, Eusebio, killed its dream.
Northern Ireland 1-0 Spain; Group 5, final league match; Valencia, Spain – 1982
“At the final whistle, we didn’t initially celebrate. We just looked at each other for about 10 seconds in amazement,” Northern Ireland midfielder Tommy Cassidy recalls.
The country, the smallest to ever qualify for the World Cup, shocked the host at the Mestalla. After a goalless first half, Gerry Armstrong, lurking in the box, made the most of a goalkeeping howler from Luis Arcanda, striking it hard and low past two defenders and the ’keeper.
Cameroon 1-0 Argentina; Group B, first league match; Milan, Italy – 1990
In the ‘Miracle of Milan’, defending champion Argentina was at the receiving end of a tough-tackling Cameroon side in the first match of the competition. “I got a kick from a guy against Cameroon that nearly took my head off,” Diego Maradona, Argentina’s inspirational captain, said later.
Less than two weeks to go until World Cup kicks off in Qatar
Convenience is Top Priority for Passengers Post Pandemic
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the results of its 2022 Global Passenger Survey (GPS), showing that travelers top concerns for travel in the post-COVID crisis period are focused on simplification and convenience.
“Travel during COVID-19 was complex, cumbersome and time consuming due to government-imposed travel requirements. Post-pandemic, passengers want improved convenience throughout their trip. Digitalization and use of biometrics to speed up the travel journey is the key,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President for Operations, Safety and Security.
Passengers want convenience when they plan their travel and when choosing where to depart from. Their preference is to fly from an airport close to home, have all booking options and services available in one single place, pay with their preferred payment method and easily offset their carbon emissions.
Ethiopia starts commemorating World Polio Day in Afar
As Ethiopia commemorates the 2022 World Polio Day (WPD) in Afar Semera, on Saturday November 5, it is said that to highlight progress made by the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and partners towards polio eradication, and the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and ROTARY – will reaffirm the commitment to continue delivering on their promise until polio is eliminated in Ethiopia.
World Polio Day commemorations for this year kicked off globally on 24th October 2022 with the theme “World Polio Day 2022 and Beyond: A healthier future for mothers and Children”.
Global partners and health workers have worked tirelessly for many years to bring polio cases down by 100 per cent worldwide. Africa has also made tremendous progress towards the eradication of the wild poliovirus (WPV), and in 2020, the WHO Africa Region was certified as wild polio-free, thanks to countries’ sustained commitment and coordination of partners.
However, the job is not yet done, and a non-wild polio variant continues to circulate in under-immunized communities until wild polio still threatens a few countries in Africa and beyond.
Countries must commit to vaccinating every child and strengthening disease surveillance to end any form of polio, anywhere in the world, as it is a threat to children everywhere.
Last month, donors pledged about US$ 2.6 billion at the World Health Summit that will help the Global Polio Eradic
ation Initiative (GPEI) to continue its critical role in fighting poliomyelitis to strengthen health systems around the world to end polio.
The remarkable progress in Ethiopia would not have been possible without the leadership of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, the commitment of frontline workers, and the generous support of polio partners such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ROTARY, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USAID, WHO, UNICEF, Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations (CCRDA/CORE Group) and other Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners.
Huawei Ethiopia awarded as platinum level loyal taxpayer
The fourth round of the Federal loyal Taxpayers’ Recognition Ceremony was held on October 20, 2022 in the presence of Sahilework Zewdie, President of Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s Ministry of Revenue recognized most loyal and highest tax payers for the fiscal year that ended on July 7,2022.
The event, held at the Sheraton Addis, honored 400 of the best taxpayers, 40 of whom received platinum badges. At the ceremony, President Sahilework Zewdie urged the “business community to play its role by paying taxes”.
In the event, Huawei Ethiopia recognized the platinum level loyal tax payer award. The company has been praised by the government for being a gold-level tax payer in the years 2020 and 2021 consecutively.
The President also expressed her hope that the recognition of those enterprises mentioned above would encourage winning businesses to keep paying their taxes on time and that others would follow suit.
Chen Mingliang, CEO of Huawei Ethiopia, said: “We feel honored to be awarded and praised by the President and the Ethiopian Government. Huawei will keep making more contributions to the Ethiopian ICT business by using cutting-edge technical solutions and abiding by local laws. It will also strive to get more accolades”
Since its first business exploration in 1999, the company has gained a reputation in the Ethiopian market for reliable products and solutions, high-quality service delivery, and standardized business management.
Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, and it was founded in 1987. In 2008, Huawei Group established Huawei Technologies Ethiopia PLC, a local subsidiary that serves Ethiopian clients in various industrial sectors, including telecom, finance, education, electricity, and so on.
Currently, it serves millions of Ethiopians with its telecom carriers and enterprise business solutions. The company is also striving to cultivate the ICT talent ecosystem, where the future generation of the industry will be equipped with up-to-date knowledge and skills.
