Qatar vs Ecuador had a great start to the World Cup. Ecuador beat the host country, Qatar, 2-0 in a very easy game at Al Bayt Stadium.
There has been talk and debate about this competition for the past 12 years, but in the end, the first game was just men against boys, as La Tricolor kept passing right through Qatar’s defense.
The game started quickly, with challenges coming from both sides. It only took two minutes for the first exciting thing to happen in this competition.
Ecuador, which is known for how good they are at set pieces, floated a free kick into the box and got lucky when Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb missed the ball.
In the resulting chaos, the ball was hit back across the goal and headed in by Enner Valencia. However, the referee quickly said that the goal would not count.
Replays of the goal showed that an Ecuadorian player was offside, even if it was just by the length of a kneecap. This was a huge break for Qatar.
Qatar went down 1-0 less than 15 minutes later when Al Sheeb tripped Valencia in the penalty area, and the former West Ham striker scored the penalty.
Qatar cut their domestic league short months ago so that they could train as a team for several months before the World Cup. However, it was hard to see their hard work pay off because a well-trained Ecuador team kept giving them the runaround.
After 30 minutes, it was 2-0. Valencia was able to get to Angelo Preciado’s cross in the box and send a perfect header past Al Sheeb.
After the exciting first half, the second half was pretty boring because Ecuador was in charge and didn’t try too hard to score the third goal. Since Qatar didn’t do much to attack, it’s possible that coach Gustavo Alfaro told his players to save their energy in the hot Gulf.
The strategy worked, and the game moved at a snail’s pace, giving Ecuador enough time to win.
It was a tough day for Qatar, who saw what happens when you don’t prepare for a World Cup. They have a lot of work to do before their next game against Senegal.
Qatar (3-5-2)
GK: Saad Al Sheeb – 3/10 – The Qatari goalkeeper had a long and painful afternoon because he looked uncomfortable from the start and was punished for it.
CB: Bassam Al-Rawi – 4/10 – Put under a lot of stress and didn’t know how to handle it.
CB: Boualem Khoukhi – 4/10 – His passing was too sloppy the whole time, making it hard for his team to build from the back.
CB: Abdelkarim Hassan (7/10): Hassan was one of the few Qatari players to do well in this game, and he looked pretty good with the ball.
RWB: Pedro Miguel got a 6/10 because he did a pretty good job of keeping Ibarra and Estupinan away.
CM: Abdulaziz Hatem – 5/10 – He just couldn’t do anything to help his team get back into the game.
CM: Hassan Al-Haydos – 5/10 – Al-Haydos won his 169th cap for Qatar in this game, but he will want to forget it quickly.
CM: Karim Boudiaf – /10: Another player who just didn’t care about this game.
LWB: Homam Elamin (6/10): The only player who came close to helping Qatar build some good attacks.
ST: Almoez Ali – 4/10 – Never did anything to change the game, so he has no reason to complain about being replaced.
ST: Akram Afif – 7/10 – Afif was by far Qatar’s best player, and his team needed him to play almost every position to get a foothold in the game.
SUB: Mohammed Muntari – N/A
SUB: Mohammed Waad – N/A
Manager: Felix Sanchez – 5/10 – There’s no question that Ecuador has better players than Qatar, but why did the Maroon look so disorganized and unprepared? The manager has to take responsibility.
Ecuador (4-4-2)
GK: Hernan Galindez – 6/10 – Galindez could just have done the Spectator crossword during this game, so he didn’t need a deckchair.
RB: Angelo Preciado, 8/10. His walks down the right side of the field caused trouble, and his cross set up the subsequent goal.
CB: Felix Torres (6/10): Was caught sleeping a couple of times, but Qatar couldn’t do anything about it.
CB: Piero Hincapie – 7/10 – The Bayer Leverkusen player played well, but he will have to play better in other games.
LB: Pervis Estupinan – 7/10 – The left-back for Brighton played with confidence and had a lot of room to move forward.
RM: Gonzalo Plata – 7/10 – A few times, he showed off how good he was at dribbling, and Qatar couldn’t handle it.
CM: Jhegson Mendez – 7/10 – Mendez won’t get the credit for this win, but his ability to drop into the defensive line was a key part of how Ecuador built up their game.
CM: Moises Caicedo – 7/10 – Today, he played in the middle and did a good job of it.
LM: Romario Ibarra – 7/10 – Had a lot of fun on the left side of the field and made a few good chances for himself.
ST: Enner Valencia, 9/10. His strength and movement scared the Qatar back line, and he scored two goals in the first half. Ecuador will have to wait nervously to find out how bad the injury was that made him leave the game.
ST: Michael Estrada (7/10): Estrada didn’t do much with the ball, but he confused the Qatari defence by drifting to the side from his starting position in the middle.
SUB: Jeremy Sarmiento – N/A
SUB: Jose Cifuentes – N/A
SUB: Alan Franco – N/A
SUB: Kevin Rodriguez – N/A
Manager: Gustavo Alfaro – 8/10 – In this game, one team looked like it was ready, and the other didn’t. Ecuador knew Qatar’s weak spots and took advantage of them with ease. For most of the second half, they kept the game moving at a steady pace. Very well done.
In the end, Qatar vs Ecuador match was very interesting.
