and here in the arab world. for advocates, for activists, for players of those seven countries who wanted to wear the armband, this is about a human rights issues that they don t want to compromise on. for the host and all the spectators that have come from all parts of the world, especially tha arab and muslim world, this is about respect which they don t feel they ve been getting from the west and other cultures. and it s all really playing out here in the world cup on the world s biggest of stages. on thursday, the final eight teams play their first matches of the tournament. in group g it s switzerland against cameroon, and brazil against serbia. and in group h, uruguay take on south korea, while portugal face ghana.much more on the world cup on the special section of our website just log on to bbc.com/news or download the bbc app.