On the initiative of Captain van Dijk
Louis van Gaal beamed into the camera as if he had already won the World Cup. The 71-year-old still has to wait a bit for the title, but the Dutch national coach’s good mood had a reason. Because behind him, the Oranje team and above all 20 selected migrant workers lay a very special training session. At the instigation of the players around captain Virgil van Dijk (31), the Dutch association had organized a training session in Doha in which some migrant workers were allowed to take part.
The Dutch wanted to draw attention to the poor living conditions of these people. In the course of the construction of the World Cup stadiums, numerous migrant workers are said to have died, the exact number is unclear. The human rights organization “Amnesty International” speaks of “thousands of unexplained deaths” and “hundreds of deaths” that could have been prevented with better heat protection measures alone. “Unfortunately, we can’t be much more precise,” said Lisa Salza from “Amnesty International” of the “NZZ“. The conditions on site were and are criticized by many fans, players and officials.
The men from Nepal, India, Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda, among others, enjoyed the welcome change. “I scored three goals and was in a team with Frenkie de Jong and Virgil van Dijk. We had a lot of fun with the players,” Ugandan-born Joseph Makanaga told Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf“. “It was a very special evening. This is an opportunity that not many people get.”
The players had fun too. “Hopefully it was one of the best days of her life for her. It definitely gave us a lot of energy,” said van Dijk, who starts the World Cup with the Oranje team against Senegal on Monday. Other opponents in Group A are hosts Qatar and Ecuador. “We are not closing our eyes to what is happening here. That’s why we wanted to set an example,” said the Liverpool defender.
World Cup 2022: The participants sorted by squad values
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