Qatar officials set to disallow ‘Miss Croatia’ for Croatia vs Japan Round of 16 game in FIFA World Cup 2022
Ivana Knoll (Image Credit: Twitter)
In the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022, Miss Croatia, Ivana Knoll has been making headlines. She was first observed during Croatia vs Canada game during the Group stage. A video of her moving up the stairs went viral on social media. After a while, she once again managed to turn heads during her national team’s other league game against Belgium. During the game, some Qatari locals were seen clicking her.
She wore a Croatian flag on her dress, which was not fully covered. It was later found out that those clicking her actually reported to the authorities. Also, Qatari businessman Mohammed Hassan Al-Jefairi explained on social media that the individuals taking Knoll’s pictures because they were ‘uncomfortable’ with the way she was dressed.
“Just for your information, they don’t take the picture because they like her, but because they don’t like the way she is dressed, in a way that is inappropriate for our culture,” he wrote.
The Croatian is set to get banned from the Quarterfinal game between Japan and Croatia. However, no official has been issued on the matter until now.
Japan to play its maiden FIFA World Cup Round of 16 game
Meanwhile, talking about the upcoming knockout, the eastern Asian side has qualified for the knockouts for the first time. In the group stages, they pulled off an upset against four-time winners, Germany. In their must-win game against 2010 winners, Spain, they pulled off an upset albeit the ‘Controversial Goal‘ in the second half that proved decisive. Meanwhile, the Asian outfit will take on the 2018 finalists, Croatia at the Al Janoub Stadium.
The game will start at 8:30 PM IST. Considering the 2018 finalists history in the tournament, they are considered favorites.
