AA / Hatem Kattou
Ecuador won the opening match of the 2022 World Cup on Sunday, beating on the lawn of the al-Bayt stadium in al-Khor (45 km north of the capital Doha), the host country of the competition, by two goals to zero, in a match counting for the first day of group A.
The first half ended with two unchallenged goals for the South Americans, the work of striker Enner Valencia, a member of the Istanbul club Fenerbahçe, who limped off in the 77th minute.
The former Westham striker in the English Premier League scored the first goal in the 16th minute by converting a penalty awarded by the match referee, the first of the tournament, before doubling the score a quarter of an hour later taking advantage of the wide boulevards in the Qatari defense.
Qatar thus begins its first match badly in a World Cup which, moreover, takes place at home. To see the face of the match, the step was a bit high for Akram Afif’s teammates.
Thanks to this victory, Ecuador occupies, alone, the first place of group A, with three points to its credit, while Qatar is already red lantern with zero points on the clock.
Despite the encouragement of almost the majority of the 60,000 spectators present in the bays of the stadium, built in the form of a Bedouin tent, the Qataris were powerless and were content to suffer during the first period, while making mistakes in defense, in particular, during the second goal.
After the lemon break, the foals of Spaniard Félix Sánchez Bas, who has been at the technical helm of the group since 2017, tried to react but, short of offensive arguments, they were unable to seriously threaten the cage of the goalkeeper of “La Tri”, Hernán Ismael Galíndez.
The only exception, five minutes from time, Mohamed Muntari, who entered the pitch a few minutes earlier, fired a very nice volley after being served with a long ball thrown from the defense. The leather passed a few centimeters from the opposing goalkeeper’s cage.
The second match of the group will take place, Monday evening, between Senegal and the Netherlands, in what constitutes the poster of this hen; the “Lions of Teranga” and the “Oranges” being the two favorite selections to qualify for the next round.
On the second day, Qatar will play their all out on Friday against Senegal while Ecuador, in pole position, will try to score their qualifying ticket against the Batavians on the same day.