Kenyan sports journalist has explained why he thinks the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa was better than the one underway in Qatar.
FARPost spoke to Enrique Oyugi about his experience in Qatar where he is covering the tournament for Kenya’s Standard Media Group.
“I think 2010 was much better. The theme song reverberated with all fans worldwide,” he told FARPost.
“The 2010 edition was not marred with corruption like this one, as we have heard and read.”
The Kenyan journalist said people in Qatar were very friendly, and the tournament was progressing well.
WHY THE 2010 SA WORLD CUP WAS BETTER
“Experience is out of this world. It’s the second World Cup I’m attending after 2010 in South Africa,” he said.
Enrique said most of the pre-tournament concerns about human rights and beer restrictions were no longer an issue.
“Beer was a crazy issue over here, but it’s like it’s toning down now, plus people have found ways to sort out their thirst for alcohol,” he said.
With Morocco and Senegal as the only surviving teams in the round of 16, Enrique felt African teams could have done better.
“African teams can do much better if they have teamwork upfront, but most strikers are selfish and want to score solo,” Enrique added.
“Qataris are very warm people, but it could be for Public Relations because of this ongoing tournament.”
He added: “But again, the negative stories from here could also have resulted from Qatar standing their ground against the LGBTQ.”
Former England international Danny Murphy has since told talkSPORT that there was no problem being experienced in Qatar over the beer ban issue inside match venues.
“It’s a joke seeing how adults behave after drinking back in England. I’ve experienced nothing but pleasantries here in Qatar!” he said.
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