AFTER UNWANTED NOISE, TIME TO HEAR THE ROAR

IT COULD BE A CUP OF SURPRISES, AS THE GAP BETWEEN COUNTRIES HAS NARROWED

- Siddharth Saxena

Meet Dana. All of three, even less perhaps, she's a little Mexican in the tiniest El Tri shirt available, toppling over herself each time she tries to stand up. So tiny, she can fist bump you only with her palm open, yet Dana has travelled with her parents all the way from Mexico to be in Qatar. Should have been easy, you'd think, since her father runs a travel agency. But then again not, not with the 13,869 km separating the two countries, one a traditional, old-World Cup outpost, the other the newest entrant to the club.

It is said that when you spot the Mexican with sombrero and flag, quietly showing up at huge airports, usually in groups of three, and finding them filing in into modest dwellings, you can safely assume that the World Cup is finally on. Despite the modest record of their own national team, there are fewer sights in world football more reassuring, especially here this time when huge speculation has been fanned over genuine fan participation.