At last it was here, the last word in Qatar’s attempt to announce itself to the world, to showcase all that it could do, all that it could build. Then the soccer started.
AL KHOR, Qatar — The highway stretches out into nowhere, its surface pristine, the soaring glass spires of Doha slowly receding in the distance. It passes the ghost city of Lusail, its cranes standing motionless in the desert air. For miles, there is nothing but asphalt and sand and sky, the horizon broken only by the colossal outline of the Al Bayt Stadium.