With Saudi Arabia the chief protagonist in a Gulf crisis that has left Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, cut off from its neighbours since mid-2017, the group game at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed Sports City Stadium resonates far beyond the pitch. “Sports is a strategy for various of the Gulf states (but) the Qataris have been much more strategic about this,” said James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at RSIS, and a blogger and author on Middle Eastern politics and football.