Olivier Giroud surprised by World Cup greeting in Qatar amid claims

Conor Coady previews World Cup

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France striker Olivier Giroud has admitted he was amazed by the Indian presence among the nation’s supporters as Didier Deschamps’ side began their World Cup preparations in Qatar. Hundreds of raucous supporters greeted the reigning champions as they landed in Doha earlier this week, but the demographic left Giroud nicely surprised.

France start their World Cup defence against Australia on Tuesday, November 22, before completing Group D by facing Denmark and Tunisia. And speaking in a press conference on Thursday, Giroud admitted the number of Indian fans cheering on France in the Middle East was a welcome surprise.

He told reporters: “It’s always nice to feel welcomed like that. I did not know that the Indians supported the France team. It is a serious thing, given that they have a billion people.”

A significant majority of Qatar’s expat population is from Kerala, India, where it has become accustomed to football fans who show passion like no other. And with France arriving as the world champions, it comes as no surprise that many have pledged their allegiance to the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema.

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However, Giroud’s observation could result from hosts Qatar allegedly paying actors to pose as fans ahead of Sunday’s big World Cup kick-off. Questions were raised after videos emerged online of Brazil, England and Portugal ‘fans’, among other countries, celebrating on the streets of Doha.

Plenty of comments on social media accused Qatar of paying actors to pretend they are fans of each country ahead of the showcase. It adds to the controversy surrounding the World Cup after Qatar’s unexpected awarding, poor human rights record and homosexuality laws, with some breaches punishable by death.

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Another major criticism of Qatar ahead of the World Cup has been the heat, prompting the switch from summer to winter to control the extreme temperatures. But England were training in temperatures up to 33C on Wednesday, and today, it’s not much cooler. Benzema admitted it would take some getting used to:

He said: “It’s stifling heat, and we haven’t been out too much in the afternoon. We’ll have to get used to it. I remember that, in 2014, we played a match against Nigeria at 1pm, and it was 30 degrees.”

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