Ecuador’s Enner Valencia player celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the match between Qatar and Ecuador in Al Khor, Qatar, on Sunday.
Hassan Ammar/AP
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Hassan Ammar/AP
Ecuador’s Enner Valencia player celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the match between Qatar and Ecuador in Al Khor, Qatar, on Sunday.
Hassan Ammar/AP
AL KHOR, Qatar — the first Qatar World Cup The match ended in disappointment for a team that was superior and had an undesirable place in football history.
The controversial tournament opened on Sunday with Qatar underplayed and embarrassed in a 2-0 loss to Ecuador in front of 67,372 fans at Al Bayt Stadium.
In 92 years of football’s biggest event, the hosts have never lost their opening match.
The first World Cup in the Middle East was an opportunity for Qatar, a small Arab country jutting out into the Persian Gulf, to present itself to the wider world. Its football team, playing at this level for the first time by hosting the tournament, failed to survive when Ecuador captain Enner Valencia scored both goals in the first half.
The match followed a colorful 30-minute opening ceremony — chaired by Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman and attended by powerful dignitaries including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — aimed at promoting integration and human coexistence “under one tent”.
For many, that will be disconcerting given the fact that this World Cup is being hosted by an emirate where homosexual acts are illegal, a country that has been heavily criticized for the way people Migrant workers have been treated when building stadiums and infrastructure for the tournament since Qatar won a scandalous vote in 2010.
The years-long scrutiny will never stop just because the final on-field game has entered the narrative of a contested tournament over human rights, however, a victory for the host country will at least bring favorable light to Qatar, a wise football.
Instead, the Qatari players, who had only spent seven months together in pre-tournament training camp under Spanish coach Felix Sanchez, stood in front of an expectant crowd and a proud Ecuadorian team. Rules can endanger more advanced opponents in the match. Next few weeks.
Valencia thought he had scored in the third minute when he headed home from Felix Torres’ acrobatic pass. After watching the video for about two minutes, the Ecuadorian celebration was cut short when the goal was ruled out for offside.
However, Ecuador took the lead in the 16th minute when Valencia was fouled by Saad Alsheeb after overtaking the keeper, who was shown a yellow card. Valencia was nonchalant as he stepped up and scored a penalty kick into the bottom corner of the goal.
The 33-year-old striker scored his second in the 33rd minute by heading in after Angelo Preciado’s right wing cross.
With Qatar’s passes frequently misdirected and defense constantly showing openings, Ecuador had no trouble keeping the lead as Sanchez stood helpless in his technical area. and the home fans fell silent.
Having so many empty seats in the second half was almost a damage-limiting exercise for Qatar in one of the biggest nights in the nation’s history.
Leaders from the Middle East and Africa were present
Camels and Arabian horses line the entrance to the stadium, a Bedouin tent-inspired venue located in a rather isolated part of the rural town of Al Khor, north of Doha.
And the atmospheric seven-act opening ceremony went exactly as advertised, the highlight being when Freeman extended his golden-gloved hand to a FIFA World Cup ambassador suffering from a rare spinal disorder. in an image that represents inclusion in a country facing international criticism for its human rights record.
Viewed from the plush seats is FIFA president Gianni Infantino alongside leaders from the Middle East and Africa. The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, received loud applause during a brief speech in Arabic from the room, with Infantino and the monarch’s father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in both sides.
“I salute you and wish you all good luck,” the emir said in the only words spoken in English.
After this performance, Qatar will need more than luck to avoid meeting South Africa as the only host nation that failed to make it past the group stage at the World Cup.
The first half was ending when a large part of Ecuadorian fans wearing yellow shirts chanted: “We want to drink beer”. It was a humorous intervention two days after Qatar decided to ban the sale of beer at stadiums during the World Cup. It’s a belated change for the conservative Muslim nation, where access to alcohol is severely restricted. Only the alcohol-free Bud Zero is sold at the game.
In what is considered to be one of the host nation’s worst performances ahead of the tournament, Qatar had five shots in the game and none of them went on target. The team has only two touches of the ball in the opponent’s penalty area.
Qatar will look to come up against Senegal in Group A on Friday, the same day Ecuador takes on the Netherlands.
