doha amor || neymar, gavi, mason mount

ecuador v qatar.

sunday, 20 november 2022

"Get up get up get up! You overslept!" Mallory burst into my room, all ready for the day. I checked my clock. 011:30 am. I was supposed to have been downstairs in the lobby by 11. I instantly jumped out of bed and ran into my bathroom to change. Mallory waited on my bed with an iced coffee and a donut. I loved this girl.

I changed into black leggings and a white athletic shirt, and tied my hair up into a high ponytail. I grabbed my credentials and visor and walked down to the elevator while sipping my coffee. 

"Mal I don't know what I would do without you. I would have slept longer if you hadn't come in." She laughed, and opened the hotel door and we walked outside to the taxi. We had been instructed to head to the headquarters of the World Cup, which was outside. The humidity was already starting to get to me. It was hot at home in London, and definitely in Spain, but it felt worse here. 

And it was only November.

Our driver dropped us off at the media centre, and we dropped of our bags in our designated lockers. Mallory and I had been assigned to the Qatar v Ecuador game, but only as standby. Basically, if they needed more photographers or interviewers, we would be put on the scene. I was so excited. My dreams in life were finally paying off.

"I believe you should tie your hair up Mal." I said as I applied suncream. I handed her a hair tie which she put in hastily. 

"Thanks babe. For next game I'll remember a tie." She snickered, then took some suncream. There were other girls in the room with us, putting on their finishing touches. The girls and boys had different locker rooms, but they all came out in the same area. 

I found myself talking to another photographer from England. She worked with Liverpool, and was 26 years old. Her name was Maria Filstback. Mallory was talking to another American photographer about baseball. I never understood the sport, but maybe it was because I wasn't American. 

We got handed our vests to wear during the game, and made our way out to the main area, where we were met by media officials.

Mallory and I ended up being scattered around the pitch, but both for photography. As I took my position behind the wall marking the field and the outskirts, I took a look around the stadium. It was beautiful; all of these fans gathered together to join and watch the beautiful game together. The heat hadn't gotten to them, and the players took the pitch to officially start the game.

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The game was high paced, and kept me on the edge of my toes the entire time. Around the 2nd minute, Ecuador was given a kick which initially lead to a goal by Enner Valencia. Cheers erupted from the Ecuador fans, but the cheers stopped almost immediately after. The Qatar players had demanded that the play was offside, and it went to VAR. VAR took Qatar's side, and it was disallowed, leaving the game still neck and neck at 0-0. 

The game never slowed down once. It was physical, and the fans were loving it. 

The 14th minute changed it all. Valencia makes a run into the box, planning to get around the goalie, but is brought down in a goal scoring moment. The Qatar goalie, Saad Al Sheeb, is given a yellow card, and Ecuador is given a penalty kick. I quickly switch out my camera lens to my close up one, and zoom in on Valencia. He looks calm and collected, but also nervous. Getting a penalty kick on the world's biggest stage can give anyone nightmares. The whistle blows, and he takes his shot.

Goal. 

The Ecuador fans drown out the Qatar fans with their screams. 

Ecuador has officially scored the first goal of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

It felt magical. I snapped pictures of Ecuador's team celebrations, many of Enner Valencia; the man himself, and a few of Qatar. 

And to think I still had almost a full month left of this.

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Ecuador ended up winning 2-0, with Enner Valencia scoring both goals. I walked into the media lockers with Mallory, who looked as red as her hair. Her bouncy curls looked like a cascading waterfall running down her back. 

"It's hot as hell out there. As much as I enjoyed that, I can't wait to be in the pool at our air conditioned hotel." I chuckled as I took off my vest and opened my locker to grab my belongings. I untie my ponytail, and put it into a bun. I put my vest into the locker for the next game, and head out to my taxi with Mallory. We originally planned on heading out for dinner, but we were burnt out from the heat. 

The cool air from the hotel and the free drinks was enough to hold us over for the night. I poured myself a red wine, and some crackers to compliment it. We talked to some of the other members from our original group, and even talked to some of FIFA's board members.

Around 23 pm, things started heating up. Someone had invited players from teams, and one way or another, the whole Brazilian team showed up. They still had 4 days until their game, so I guess this was how they wanted to party. I wasn't sure how they were even allowed to come and party, but this is the World Cup.

I poured myself a Gin and Tonic and went to go introduce myself to some players. I eventually found myself sitting at a couch talking to their captain, Thiago Silva. The conversation was very limited due to language barriers, but we got it to sort of work. 

"Have you met Neymar? He is good player." Silva said in his broken English. I nodded. 

"Not yet. I would love to, though." I took a sip of my drink, then turned back to Thiago. Next to him, none other than Neymar Jr was standing next to him with a beer in his hand. He smiled. With the brief bit of Portuguese I had learned, I tried to shoot my shot.

"Olá! Meu nome é Trinity." (Hello! My name is Trinity) The accent was a little rusty, but I had been planning for this moment ever since I saw him play at Barcelona. He was my celebrity crush, and now I finally was meeting him.

"Prazer em conhecê-la, Trinity." (Nice to meet you, Trinity) It took me a second to understand, but I smiled in response. "Você fala português?" (Do you speak Portuguese?) He questioned. I hesitated for a moment.

"Um pouco. Eu falo inglês e espanhol." (A little. I speak English and Spanish) I said. He nodded, and we both awkwardly took a sip of our drinks.

"Meu inglês não é muito bom." (My English is not very good) He said. You could tell my expression was puzzled, because Thiago turned to me.

"He say his English is no good." He said in a very thick accent. I smiled.

"Obrigada" (Thank you)

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Everyone left around 2 in the morning, leaving me with another 6 hour night of rest. I quickly hopped into bed and put my phone into charge. The screen lit up brightly as I saw notifications pour in.

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