Qatar out of their depth as controversial cup kicks off
Qatar’s first ever World Cup match ended in dismay for an overmatched team and with a unwanted place in football history.
The controversy-laced tournament opened with Qatar getting outplayed 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, a host team had never lost their opening game.
The first World Cup in the Middle East is a chance for Qatar, a tiny Arab country jutting out into the Persian Gulf, to showcase itself to the wider world. Its football team, playing at this level for the first time by virtue of hosting the tournament, couldn’t live up to the moment as Ecuador captain Enner Valencia scored both goals in the first half.
The match took place after a colorful 30-minute opening ceremony — fronted by Oscarwinning actor Morgan Freeman and attended by powerful dignitaries including Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — that promoted inclusivity and mankind living “under one tent”.
For many, that would jar with this World Cup being hosting by an emirate where homosexual acts are illegal, one that has come under strong criticism for how migrant workers have been treated building stadiums and tournament infrastructure since Qatar won the scandal-shrouded vote in 2010.
The years-long scrutiny was never going to stop just because play on the field finally entered the narrative of a tournament dogged by human rights controversies, yet a win for the host nation would have at least put a favourable light on Qatar, football-wise.
Instead, Qatar’s players, fresh from spending seven months together in a pre-tournament training camp under Spanish coach Felix Sanchez, froze in front of an expectant crowd and a disciplined Ecuador team that might just pose a danger to more high-profile opponents over the next few weeks.
With Qatar’s passes often going astray and their defensive raggedness repeatedly exposed, Ecuador had no problem as Sanchez stood helpless in his technical area and the home fans fell quiet.
There were lots of empty seats for a second half that was almost a damage-limitation exercise for Qatar on one of the biggest nights in the nation’s history.
At the atmospheric seven-act opening ceremony, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, had drawn thunderous applause in a short speech delivered in Arabic from the suite, with Infantino and the monarch’s father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, on either side of him.
“I welcome you and good luck to all,” the emir said in his only words spoken in English.
After this display, Qatar will need more than just luck to avoid joining South Africa as being the only host nation to fail to get out of the group stage at the World Cup.