Footballers of the national team of Qatar with a score of 0:2 were defeated by Ecuador. Qatar became the first team in history to lose the opening match at a home World Cup.
Both goals at the El Bayt stadium in the city of El Howr were scored by Enner Valencia – in the 16th (penalty) and 31st minutes. He also became the author of the goal canceled due to offside in the 5th minute.
The teams represent Group A, the other members of which – the national teams of Senegal and the Netherlands – will meet on Monday. Group B matches will also take place on November 21. The match between the teams of England and Iran will start at 16:00 Moscow time, at 22:00 the USA-Wales meeting will begin.
A few days before the start of the World Cup, the regional head of the British Center for Middle East Studies, Amjad Taha, said that Qatar should defeat Ecuador in the opening match due to bribing rivals.
“Qatar bribed eight Ecuadorian players for $7.4 million to lose the match (0-1, goal in the second half). Five insiders from Qatar and Ecuador confirmed this. We hope this is a lie. We expect that the dissemination of this information will affect the result. The world must confront corruption in FIFA,” wrote Taha.
The 2022 World Cup runs from November 20 to December 18. 32 teams take part in the tournament.