Ener Valencia’s goals brought victory to the South Americans.
On Sunday, November 20, the opening match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place, in which the hosts of the tournament, the national team of Qatar, faced the national team of Ecuador.
The meeting between the teams took place at the “El Bayt” stadium in El Hawr and ended with a score of 2:0 in favor of the American team.
Ecuador scored the first goal already in the debut of the meeting, when striker Ener Valencia scored in the fifth minute. However, the referees on VAR canceled the scored ball after watching video replays, recording offside.
In the 16th minute, the Ecuadorians took the lead – Ener Valencia scored a penalty. In 15 minutes, Valencia strengthened the advantage of his team by scoring a double.
At the end of the meeting, Qatar created a goal opportunity, and its author was Muntari. The forward received a long pass and shot almost from the penalty line, but the ball flew slightly past the goal.
According to the results of the meeting, the victory was chosen by Ecuador, which did not leave any chances to the opponent.
It should be noted that the author of the double against Qatar, Ener Valencia, was recognized as the best football player of the opening match of the 2022 World Cup.
Valencia plays for the Turkish “Fenerbahce”. This Super League season, the Ecuadorian striker has 13 goals and four assists in 12 games.
Qatar – Ecuador – 0:2
goals: Valencia, 16 (pin.), 32
Qatar: Al-Shayeb, Miguel, Al-Rawi, Houhi, Abdelkarim Hassan, Ahmed, Boudiaf, Hatim, Al-Haidos (Waad, 72), Ali (Muntari, 72), Afif
Ecuador: Galindes, Preciado, Torres, Incapier, Estupignan, Plata, Mendez, Caicedo (Franco, 90), Iborra (Sarmiento, 68), Valencia (Sifuantes, 77), Estrada (Rodriguez, 90)
Warning: Al-Sheeb, Ali, Boudiaf, Afif – Caicedo, Mendes.
Match review:
It is noteworthy that after suffering a defeat in the opening match of the 2022 World Cup, the Qataris set a historic achievement. For the first time in the history of the World Cup, the host team lost the opening match of the tournament.
Before that, the teams of the countries that hosted the planetary championship had 16 wins and 6 draws in the opening matches.
Let’s add that the Netherlands and Senegal national teams also compete in group A. They will play their face-to-face match on Monday, November 21.
In the second round, Qatar will play against Senegal, and Ecuador will play against the Netherlands. The matches are scheduled for November 25.
As a reminder, the final part of the World Cup in Qatar will be held from November 20 to December 18, 2022.
The current winner of the World Cup is the national team of France, which beat Croatia in the final of the 2018 World Cup.
