Hosts Qatar opened the 2022 Fifa World Cup by losing to Ecuador 2-0 in a one sided match at Al Bayt Stadium. Felix Sanchez’s men have been together in camp for the last six months to prepare for the tournament and work on tactics, but they looked nervous and disjointed in the Group A clash. Gulf News football experts discuss the match and look ahead to tomorrow’s three games including England Vs Iran.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Golf News kicking back. The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has kicked
00:14off tonight in spectacular fashion. The opening ceremony at the old white stadium was superb.
00:20There were 60,000 fans in attendance in that beautiful stadium of theirs. It's been 12
00:25years in the making the World Cup. It's come round really quick. Tonight it was the hosts
00:30Qatar against Ecuador in the very first game and the South Americans cruised to a 2-0 win
00:35didn't they Shyam? Yes indeed. I mean the way it started it looked like it's going to
00:41be a rout but fortunately better sense prevailed or maybe it looks like even the Ecuador guys
00:46took their foot off the gas in the second half. Otherwise it would have been an embarrassing
00:52defeat. Mind you this is the first defeat for a host in the opening game of a tournament
00:57so it could have been a lot worse. In a way Qatar got off lightly.
01:03Nick, what did you make of that 90 minutes from Qatar?
01:07I nearly dropped off to sleep second half. A bit disappointing. The worry is that's Qatar's
01:14best chance of getting points or making an impact with the other members of that group
01:22being Senegal and Netherlands. We wish them well but a bit disappointing they only had
01:29two touches in the opposition's penalty area. Maybe pressure got to them. They've been building
01:36up for so long. Six months they've been in a camp getting ready for this. Perhaps it
01:41is just too much. We're off and kicking. Let's hope for bigger and better in the next
01:47few days.
01:48Shyamshir, I don't think anyone is too surprised. To be fair Ecuador play against the likes
01:53of Argentina. They play regularly against Brazil. They play against Uruguay. We know
01:58who Qatar have to play against. It's a real mismatch in terms of quality isn't it really?
02:03It is indeed. Ecuador qualified from the Commonwealth Qualification finishing fourth in the qualifying
02:11groups. That itself shows their quality. It's a very young squad. Alfaro is building a squad
02:19for the future as well. You can see the players Moises Caicedo, Sanchez, all these guys. Very
02:25young, energetic. The physicality of that side, Qatar had no answer to that. They were
02:31struggling all over the pitch. I expected Qatar in front of their fans putting up a
02:36show or a fight or something like that. But there was nothing shown to be honest. There
02:41was hardly any shots on target. It was zero shots on target from Qatar. That is the most
02:45disappointing thing. And one corner they got, that was right towards the end of the game.
02:51There was nothing from Qatar's point of view. They were nervous. A lot of jitters. We expect
02:59these kinds of sides to struggle in the World Cup. But some fight I expected from them.
03:04There was nothing.
03:06Yeah, Sharm, like Shamsir says, it really was a very nervous display. Maybe the occasion got to the
03:12Qatari players playing in front of 60,000 fans and a global audience of 5 billion. So perhaps
03:18there's a bit of that, but there just didn't seem to be any sort of cohesion in the team. You
03:22couldn't really see what the tactics were. They were playing a five at the back, but the
03:25fullbacks weren't pushing on. It was a strange kind of a, it was a very disappointing performance
03:31from them today.
03:33I would say they're disappointing in all aspects, but to be charitable to the Qataris, a
03:40tournament play is different and World Cup is on a different level already. It's not easy for
03:45debutants to come and put their best foot forward. I mean, they were shell-shocked, absolutely
03:51shell-shocked, and they hardly strung together a move. And the two touches they got in the game
03:57was rather a long-range effort, actually. So they didn't make much of an attempt to string
04:03together what you call a cohesive game. Not just that, when you play with five backs, that
04:10itself gives away your game plan. That means you're going to be absolutely defensive, which
04:16is understandable from a coach's point of view, because they would rather don't want to concede
04:20too many goals. But against teams like any Latin American team, it's not a good strategy.
04:29Not just that, there has been some noticeable change in the strategy in the second half,
04:33with the center backs pushing a slightly higher line, which allowed them to cut off
04:39their winger score better than in the first half. So all in all, a nervous bunch, which
04:49took out on depth against a quality side.
04:52Yeah, and that's a good, true point, Nishan. Every time they did show Sanchez on the touchline,
04:57he kept puffing his cheeks. You could tell that the pressure was on him. But when the players
05:02see the coach, you know, almost giving up as well, it probably doesn't help the situation.
05:06But guys, we've got to talk about a big incident. I mean, it didn't matter in the end, but three
05:10minutes into the game, Valencia scored a header. It was ruled out for offside. Now, I can't for
05:15the life of me see why that was offside. Nick, have you got any reasons, any opinions why that
05:19was ruled out? No, I watched it two or three times. I didn't quite see the lines we're seeing.
05:27Am I right in saying there's new technology in the World Cup on VAR? Because all I saw was
05:33the goalie come out, a bit of a miss the ball, and the next minute I'm seeing someone's leg in
05:39front of someone's leg. I didn't quite understand as a golf fan on TV exactly what happened.
05:46Shamsir, any ideas? Can you clarify what that was given for? Because as far as I understand,
05:51look, the offside, look, when the ball's about to be played, so you've got a dead ball over here,
05:55you've got the defenders lining up over here. Now, offside will only be called the moment the ball
05:59is struck from the free kick taker over here, not when the ball has reached the area there.
06:05So anyway, that should have been offside because Valencia was behind the defenders.
06:11So any ideas why that was ruled out, Shamsir? First of all, this is the new technology like
06:16what Nick mentioned. It is the semi-automated offside technology which has been used in the
06:21World Cup and it's pretty advanced and you can see a lot of cameras, like 12 cameras looking
06:29at the players all the time and you have a sensor on the ball. All these things, you will understand
06:35where the position of the players are and when the ball is kicked. All these things are measured
06:39right now and how that is offside, according to my knowledge, it is offside. The kick is being
06:46played and the goalkeeper is coming and the player is over there and there are two players. So what
06:52FIFA has understood is that the first touch was on the Ecuadorian player and the next player who
06:59was there, when the ball was touching on Valencia, the other guy was offside. So it wasn't like
07:07straight from the free kick. The moment when the goalkeeper went for the collision, there was
07:12another contact from the Ecuadorian player. So that contact is converted into an offside
07:18position from the other player who was standing next to Valencia and when the goalkeeper is
07:23coming forward, you can see there is one defender behind the goalkeeper and he will become a
07:30goalkeeper technically. You understand my point? So when the goalkeeper moves forward, the defender,
07:36the last man is the goalkeeper. So it has to be offside. It's very tight margins but it is offside.
07:43I thought that has to be two players behind the goalkeeper for that to take into effect. But
07:47anyway, it didn't matter in the end. End of Valencia, he got two more. Give the guy the
07:52golden boot. Hey Sharm, he's flying up and ready. He's had a great start.
07:57Actually, he had three goals in the first half an hour actually. So he's off to a flyer really.
08:04But he's very, very impressive from our Valencia. I think we'll see more of him in the rest of the
08:10matches actually. Yeah, the former West Ham striker. He's a handy guy at Fenerbahce. He's
08:17the top scorer. He's getting 12 goals in 15 games. He's on good form, hey Shamsiv?
08:22He is, yeah. He's on terrific form and I think he's the veteran guy over there and he's like
08:28a leader. He's a captain over there and you can see a lot of youngsters and these guys are
08:34looking up to him because the thing is that he has the experience playing in the World Cup and
08:38he has scored for them. I think in the World Cup for Ecuador, he's the number one goal scorer now
08:43and he started in a big way. But the thing is that he has got injury. I don't know how
08:49serious that is. But if he misses the next game, that's going to be a major blow for Ecuador.
08:55Yeah, and Nick, speaking about Qatar, for them to progress, they had to win today's
09:01game because now they've got to play Senegal and they've got to play the Netherlands.
09:04Do you think they can get anything out of those two games?
09:08Not against the number 18 and 18s in the FIFA rankings and those are good milestones. Those
09:15are important yardsticks that you can't argue. They've been going for so many years and when
09:21you're playing the Netherlands number eight, Senegal 18, I can't see anything on Qatar's
09:27score sheet, rather point sheet, who knows. But I'd like to see a bit more emotion, passion,
09:33the occasion. Maybe it just got a bit too much for them today.
09:37Damaging defeat for the host nations, unlucky for them. Three games to look forward to tomorrow.
09:43Let's start with a quick preview for each one, starting with England against Iran. Nick,
09:47how do you think our boys are going to get on tomorrow? It's a tough one because Iran
09:51managed by Carlos Cúrrez. He's a very good coach, we know. Half the team for Iran plays in the
09:56Bundesliga. Those players aren't too bad at all. I wouldn't be too surprised if it's England
10:02and Iran that go through in the group. How do you think we're going to get on tomorrow, Nick?
10:07We can't lose our opening match. Southgate, does he go with his trusted people or form?
10:15He's kind of a reserve manager who's always gone with his trusted players rather than form. We'll
10:22see how it goes, but we cannot lose that opening match. I'm very positive. I think we're going to
10:27go a long way. Who knows what the team is going to be? I see Madison missed training, but the rest
10:34of the 25, 26 man squad were training today and very exciting. Let's go for it and let's get on
10:43the front foot. I always think we're a bit back foot to begin with and protect not losing. I'd
10:49like to see in a World Cup, Southgate, particularly in a manager, being on the front foot. Let's go
10:55for it, get some goals. And Sharm, Senegal are playing Netherlands tomorrow and obviously Senegal
11:01dealt that huge blow losing the main man Sadio Mane. Will that adversely affect them tomorrow
11:07against the Netherlands? Yeah, I think so because he's the talismanic player and I think there's a
11:12lot of confidence riding on when he's all over the field. So that will certainly affect their
11:18prospects, but they have, I guess they have the depth to overcome that, but they will not be the
11:23same side which won the African Nations Cup. But I think tomorrow, for me, that is the match I'm
11:29looking forward to because Netherlands is one of the, to me, they play like Latin Americans.
11:36I call them the Latin Americans of Europe actually because they have a very free-flowing game.
11:42So I look forward to, and also the Senegalese play a very unbridled game. They play with
11:48boundless joy really. So it's a kind of, they enjoy their football. So it makes for a good
11:54spectacle and that is the game more than an England match. I would look forward to Netherlands and
11:58Senegal match tomorrow. Yeah, that one's going to be good. And Sharm, so your final word,
12:03Wales against the USA. Your boy Pulisic is playing obviously for the USA, but do you think
12:08Gareth Bale at 33 can, you know, show some life and propel Wales out of that group?
12:16I think Wales will be pumped because I think they played the last time in a World Cup was before
12:22England won the World Cup. So it's a long wait for Wales and they must be all pumped. And Gareth
12:28Bale is the last dance for the guy. And I think Wales will prevail from that group itself. I
12:34believe that because they have that kind of a mental strength and their striker Kiefer Moore
12:39is playing well in the Premier League. And the thing is that they have got a good bunch of
12:46defence and everything. And USA, they are not playing like a team. And whenever we have seen
12:51them, they are struggling to be cohesive and all, but they have star players. They have some young
12:57kids coming up like the Tyler Adams and all these players who are playing in the Premier League for
13:01Leeds United. And Christian Pulisic is not getting enough game time at Chelsea, but he is their star
13:07man. And if he can weave the magic, you know, USA can cause an upset, I believe, because Wales are
13:14the favourites for me for the next game. All right. Big day tomorrow. Lots of action,
13:19lots of games. We'll be back to see how they all get on and preview the next day's games. In the
13:23meantime, head to gulfnews.com for all the latest news and check us out on our social media channels.
13:29Thanks to the footie experts and we shall see you again next time. Good night.