The call to prayer mixes with the explanations of the football experts on television.

Ali al-Hammadi apologizes, it is time for the sunset prayer.

World Cup or not.

As the teams warm up, the TV evening is interrupted again for evening prayer.

Then what is perhaps the most important game in Qatar's history will kick off: the opening game of the first World Cup in an Arab country.

Christopher Ehrhardt

Correspondent for the Arab countries based in Beirut.

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Ali al-Hammadi has driven to a small town outside of Doha to watch the match at the Majlis, the Qatari equivalent of the European salon.

The house is reserved for the men and two falcons, the women have their own Majlis.

It's a mild winter evening, and a pleasant breeze blows through the deserted streets.

The terrace is covered with carpets.

A large flat screen TV has been set up, which will be exchanged for an even larger model after the opening ceremony.

The guests, young men all wearing the traditional white robes, sit at the edges on high white pedestals and colorful cushions.

Ali al-Hammadi, whom they respectfully call "Uncle", has one of the seats reserved for the elderly or special guests.

It is the honorary stage of the television evening.

"This is a historic moment"

At the stadium, the monarch speaks about international understanding.

"This is a historic moment, Sheikh Tamim must be very happy," says al-Hammadi when Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani appears on the television screen.

But the anticipation is quickly clouded by the sporting reality.

The Qatari team is going under and the men in the majlis turn to their smartphone screens as the game progresses.

"They must be very nervous," says al-Hammadi of the Qatari players going under on the pitch.

"The whole world is watching now.

I probably wouldn't have slept for a whole week.”

Initial curiosity gives way to pity among the domestic staff, who watch the game from the second row.

The game is lost 0:2, the atmosphere in the Majlis is bad.

"Failure," says one.

"They probably didn't pray like we did," says another.

But these are also the most violent emotional outbursts.

"They were also a bit inhibited because a foreigner was visiting, and certainly also because of my presence," says Ali al-Hammadi on the return trip to Doha, as if to apologize for the fact that it was so civilized that it was for European eyes sometimes seemed impassive.

It's a football evening that reflects the range of emotions of the World Cup hosts well.

There is great pride in hosting this tournament.

The sincere desire that people from all over the world experience Qatari hospitality and that they may want for nothing.

But there is also the trepidation of a closed, deeply conservative society.

Concern that people from all over the world are stretching cultural tolerance for pain too much with things they take for granted but here find scandalous.

And there is disillusionment and anger - not so much about the performance of the national team, but about the harsh criticism from the West, the human rights situation and the exploitation of foreign guest workers.

About the calls for a boycott and the "double standards" of Western politicians, who asked politely about Qatari gas, but would otherwise point fingers at the emirate.