Valencia has fun at expense of Qatari clowns
AN HOUR north of Doha by a straight, featureless road and the vast Al Bayt stadium takes shape on the horizon. hazy at first, through the heat and the desert sand swept up by the swirling wind.
Then its details take shape. An enormous Bedouin tent surrounded by slopes of freshly sprinkled lawns and twisting access roads. Like a very expensive and stylish big top in the desert. roll up, roll up to the strangest World Cup of your lives.
one where Marcel Desailly delivers the trophy on behalf of holders France in an ostentatious Louis Vuitton travel case because the beautiful game has sold its soul and it is all about the look.
one where the president of the governing body feels the need to lecture the West on morality on the eve of a tournament after asking everyone else to stick to the football. one where the opening game was between Qatar, broadly accepted to have bribed its way to host nation status, and Ecuador, guilty of playing an ineligible player through the qualifiers and who had to fight legal claims to reach these finals.
Byron Castillo, the player in question, who was born in Colombia and has no Ecuadorian citizenship despite playing most of his career there, was then left out of the World Cup squad while FIFA’s sanction was to deduct three points from the next campaign. They keep bending the rules to protect the image of the competition, blissfully unaware of the irony.
no surprise then when conspiracy theories exploded as the Italian officials intervened to rule out what appeared to have been a good goal by Ecuador with only three minutes on the clock. Saad Al Sheeb, Qatar’s experienced goalkeeper, rushed from his line to punch a high free-kick. Twice, he flapped at the ball without making contact before Enner Valencia headed in a scissor-kick cross by Felix Torres.
There was no hint of an offence. Ecuador celebrated and Qatar fell silent until FIFA’s new semi- automated offside technology kicked in — using artificial intelligence — a sensor in the ball and a dozen cameras to find an accurate ‘kick-point’ and offside line for the VAR officials.
The new system did not deliver on a promise to keep those inside the stadium better informed as referee Daniele orsato ruled the goal out. More than 67,000 present were utterly nonplussed. Those watching at home on television were equally bewildered until the animated still appeared with Michael Estrada’s right leg breaking the ‘ offside line’ as Saad went through his comedy goalkeeping routine.
Doubt remained. Ecuador boss Gustavo Alfaro joked afterwards about cutting Estrada’s toenails but ultimately it did not matter and he was soon celebrating again, with 33-year- old Valencia running rings around Qatar’s shambolic back five.
The former West ham and Everton forward, now playing his club football for Fenerbahce in Turkey, was felled by Saad on another ill-judged excursion from his goal.
Valencia coolly sent the hapless goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot and added Ecuador’s second with a change of pace and header from a cross by Angelo Preciado.
‘I dreamed about this opening match many times,’ said Valencia, seemingly unperturbed to have been denied a hat-trick. ‘I dreamed about winning this match with my national team. This is a dream to score and get three points.’
It was almost half-time by the time Qatar created the slightest threat. Almoez Ali found space and headed wide from a cross by his captain hassan Alhaydos. It was a good chance but it might have been offside.
nobody looked too closely — it did not seem to matter. ‘nervousness,’ explained Qatar boss Felix Sanchez. ‘This is our first time in the World Cup, playing in Qatar in front of our people.
‘We had too many doubts, didn’t have a good start. We let them breach our final third too easily. It became impossible to reach the performance we wanted.’
Ecuador coasted through the second half, a non- event. Thousands did not return to their seats and many teemed out as the game reached its inevitable conclusion at a pedestrian pace.
The atmosphere vanished until the Al Bayt resembled a big tent on the moon as much as the desert. By the time five minutes of added time had been endured, the place was empty but for a yellow blaze of Ecuadorians and the small maroon slice of boisterous Qataris at the other end.
‘We are sorry we couldn’t contribute to this great atmosphere,’ said Sanchez. ‘We were backed by our fans and we hope in the next game people will feel prouder.’
Qatar became the first hosts to lose the opening game. on this form, they will not progress from a group also involving the netherlands and Senegal. At least the ball is finally rolling.
QATAR (5-3-2): Saad 4.5; Pedro 5, Bassam 5, Khoukhi 5, Abdelkarim 5, Homam 5; Alhaydos 6 (Waad 71min, 5), Karim 5, Aziz 5.5; Almoez 5 (Muntari 71, 6), Afif 6. Booked: Saad, Almoez, Karim, Afif. Manager: Felix Sanchez 5 .
ECUADOR (4-4-2): Galindez 6; Preciado 6.5, Torres 6, Hincapie 6, Estupinan 6; Plata 6.5, Mendez 7, Caicedo 7.5 (Franco 90), Ibarra 6.5 (Sarmiento 68, 5); VALENCIA 8.5 (Cifuentes 76, 5), Estrada 7 (Rodriguez 90). Scorer: Valencia 16 (pen), 31.
Booked: Caicedo, Mendez.
Manager: Gustavo Alfaro 6.5.
Referee: Daniele Orsato 5 (Italy). Attendance: 67,372.