DOHA, Qatar — It was not yet 8 a.m., but already a fierce sun was beating down as the Taleb Group soccer team arrived at the technical committee building of the Qatar Football Association. As had been the case on Friday mornings for the past few weeks, even at such an early hour, the players who passed the white minaret at the center’s entrance on their way toward its state-of-the-art soccer fields were not the first to arrive.
As they approached the fields, the players were met by a crowd of about 50 young men, some singing African folk songs, others wearing counterfeit Manchester United and Real Madrid jerseys or banging metal dinner trays with soup ladles.