A 92-year-old World Cup record was broken by Qatar.
On November 21 at 00:00 Beijing time, Qatar met head-on Ecuador in the opening match of Group A of the 2022 World Cup at the Gulf Stadium (at 19:00 local time on November 20 in Qatar). Ecuador defeated the host Qatar with the score of 2-0 after 90 minutes of fighting, and Qatar became the first host in World Cup’s history to lose their first match. The Ecuadorian captain scored two goals in the first half to set the stage for their victory. Ecuador temporarily was in the lead after the match concluded with the score of Qatar 0-2 Ecuador. In the second half, neither team was able to make any progress. Ecuador temporarily ranked first in group matches. In the 22 countries that the World Cup was ever be held have never lost their opening match, the host nations had won 16 games and drawn six. Qatar has now broke a record that had been held by all prior hosts for 92 years.
Qatar – the weakest host?
Qatar naturally views the World Cup as a “business card” for the nation’s foreign exposure since it had previously tried three times unsuccessfully to host the Olympics. Four years after the World Cup was hosted from Russia to Qatar in Asia between 2018 and 2022, world football is once again experiencing a global fan fest. It is important to note that there has always been a phenomenon in World Cup history where the host has never lost. Currently, the Qatari Qarar is under pressure for the 2022 World Cup. Qatar’s men’s football team is regarded as the weakest team in World Cup history owing to its general weakness. The distance between the two teams did not appear to be as great before this match as the score. Three international friendly between the two teams have resulted in 1 win for each team and 2 draws.
20-year hardworking of Qatar
As the 2019 Asian Cup winners, Qatar is ranked 50th in the world. Ecuador, which ranked fourth in South America, is ranked 44th in the world. Despite the close difference between the two teams in the world rankings, Ecuador, with a number of Premier League players, is worth nearly 150 million euros, while Qatar is worth 14.9 million euros.
Will Qatar’s World Cup end up three consecutive defeats?
Despite playing at home, Qatar used a defensive formation in their World Cup debut due to their strength disparity. At the beginning, Qatar committed a number of errors, possibly because they were too nervous for the first time in the match. Ecuador defeated Qatar in barely three minutes, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Qatar escaped temporarily, but it didn’t last for long time. The Qatari goalkeeper went out and brought down Enner Valencia in the 15th minute, and then Enner Valenci broke the deadlock. Qatar was getting more concerned after falling behind. Ecuador took another chance in the 31st minute when Enner Valencia scored again. Qatar did not score a single goal in the first half. As Ecuador defended well in the second half, Qatar’s predicament did not change, and they were forced to accept the disappointing score of losing their World Cup debut. Qatar will face Senegal on Tuesday and the Netherlands on Saturday after this match, however, the African Cup of Nations champions and the Oranje are far superior to Ecuador. Qatar could end their World Cup campaign with three consecutive defeats, cementing their status as the World Cup’s weakest host?