The car rental business took off in the United States during the 1960s. One year, the market leader, reaping enormous profits, launched a nationwide advertising campaign with the slogan: "Guess who's No. 1." Its rival responded: "Don't guess. We're No. 2."
There is nothing insignificant about being No. 2 in a competition as demanding and complex as this. Think of all those who never even reached second place, or those who once held it and then lost it.
Egypt and Morocco both turned in admirable performances in the football tournament. Yet the habitual mourners and complainers were quick to call for denunciations of conspiracies and conspirators. What conspiracy could there possibly be in a match watched by millions?
None of the other teams, the French, the Spaniards, the Brazilians, or the Africans, invoked conspiracy theories. Football is perhaps the one game where cheating is virtually impossible: millions of witnesses, top referees, state-of-the-art cameras, and decisions scrutinized down to the fraction of a second.
Such primitive lamentations are beneath the level of progress Arab football has achieved. No other activity brings humanity together quite like the World Cup. It leaves no room for the language of myth and superstition before a human stage occupied by millions, celebrating or grieving, yet all united in their cheers.
Small things seem even smaller when measured against great events. But should we really dwell on such nonsense when the world is filled with the significance of an occasion like this?
These are not mere trivialities. They are unhealthy symptoms that threaten society as a whole. We writers are only ordinary witnesses. The greater danger lies in what is written by some of our scholars, respected thinkers, and intellectual authorities, people such as Mohamed Abou El-Ghar. At times he startles us, confronting us with his numbers, his science, and his intellectual rigor. At other times, he delights us by introducing us to remarkable new talents. Tirelessly. May God grant him good health.
