Football
Flirting With the Beautiful Game
This chronic failure over such impossibly low stakes necessitates that Arabs following international competitions hedge their bets, since the obsession with football won’t go away simply because their national teams are relegated to watching. This leads to fervent support for international clubs and European and Latin American national teams, with a fanaticism and enthusiasm that make one believe they hail originally from Munich, Sao Paolo or Manchester.
Newcastle’s Soccer Strife
Yemenis living in England are obsessed with Newcastle football, yet the club’s new Saudi ownership leaves these superfans with mixed feelings, against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Yemen.