The biggest sporting event in the world in 2022 finally kicks off with the Group A Qatar v Ecuador clash that should be well worth the wait as the football finally does the talking.
With so many games and so little time, our Group A Qatar v Ecuador Match Centre tries to sum it all up as quickly as possible before and after the game. We watch and follow the game so you don’t have to.
With answers to the key questions prior to the match and our Minutes that Mattered summary and stats post game, it is a real Who Cares guide to the 2022 World Cup for the person on the go.
Enjoy the Group A Qatar v Ecuador Match Centre.
KICKOFF – SUNDAY 20th NOV – 19:00 (QATAR) 16:00 (UK) 03:00 (AEDT)
Group A Qatar v Ecuador Match Review
Qatar became the first host nation to lose their first World Cup game as they were thrashed by Ecuador in the 2022 World Cup opener.
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute you find on professional websites except one that has only the minutes that matter. All wheat, no chaff.
And if the below isn’t enough, for those in Australia you can catch up via the SBS World Cup on Demand.
1′ Min – it took just 36 second for the tournament’s first heavy tackle. For the record, no magic water was required.
3′ Min – GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL – A goal for Ecuador and it was a mixture of goal mouth scramble and hopeless goal keeping from the Qatari stopper. After a few near misses it was a confident header from captain Enner Valancia on the six yard line that gets the tournaments opener.
VAR – Goal Disallowed – Offside
We didn’t see the offside to be honest. We’re not sure who saw it. At least you can be guaranteed it wouldn’t be drink related. But at least the decision favours the home side, and the myriad of people betting on the allegedly pre-arranged 1-0 win.
QATAR 0 ECUADOR 0
10′ Min – Ecuador get a free kick in OK range of goal. After the Qatar keeper’s first effort, we’d suggest just kicking the ball at him. They don’t, and don’t score either. Bu do earn a corner not long after, the first of the match. It was safely navigated by Qatar after a good two minutes was spent by niggling. wrestling and getting in trouble by the referee for niggling and wrestling.
15′ Min – PENALTY to ECUADOR!!!!!!
Ecuador’s make a break into the Qatar penalty area and the goalkeeper brings down Enner Valencia as the Ecuadorian forward tries to round him. Blatant fouls too as he taps his ankle on the way past. Yellow card is generous.
GOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL to Ecuador
Enner Valencia rolls it low, left and lazy with the keeper fooled, which wouldn’t be hard on current form, and opens the scoring for real this time.
QATAR 0 ECUADOR 1
20′ Min – Ecuador go close again, and really should have done. Estrada had sort of a free header. Again the Qatar goal keeper was out of position and had no idea. The way Ecuador are looking they could win this 4 or 5 nil.
25′ Min – Just past halfway point of the first half and Ecuador are enjoying 62% of the ball, and are looking by far the most dangerous team.
29′ Min – Qatar’s Carvalho Deus Correia pulls off the Klinsmann Special of the World Cup with a fine performance after minimal contact from Caicedo, who is of course is booked for the “contact”.
31′ Min – GOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL to Ecuador
A brilliant, sharp header from Enner Valencia on the six yard line makes it 2-0 with the excellent delivery assist coming from Preciado out on the right. That was too easy for Ecuador.
QATAR 0 ECUADOR 2
36′ Min – Another nasty tackle and yellow card for Qatar (Boudiaf). Goal scoring king Valenica wearing it across the knee. We wonder if there’s more garbage to come from Qatar as it becomes clearer they won’t win.
41′ Min – Qatar have their best attacking wave of the game to that point. It comes to nothing but at least threatened.
43′ Min – Enner Valencia goes down again holding his knee. Looks like he’s going to try and hold on until half time. Why wouldn’t he. Even with a sore knee he’ll can still score another. He does make it onto the field for the second half.
45 + 4′ Min – Qatar blow a golden chance to reduce the deficit when Abdulla’s header isn’t enough close to goal from a wide cross.
HALF TIME – QATAR 0 ECUADOR 2
55′ Min – Might only be half-hearted shots and good half chances, but Ecuador look the better team still and the first ten minutes of the second half is theirs. This could be a pretty dull second half if Ecuador decide to stop playing and take the win.
58′ Min – The tackles are starting to get a bit hungover Sunday League, and we can see a yellow turning into red sometime before the game is over.
62′ Min – Qatar’s first serious shot is a header from Carvalho Deus Correia. Not on target but at least in the vicinity, and showing something. Would have been offside anyway. Well should have been.
72′ Min – Ecuador on the attack again, with a couple of good set piece chances. Ecuador don’t convert either, but the theme is clear, only Ecuador look like scoring, and even they appear to be down tooling a little.
75′ Min – Qatar have another shot which clears the crossbar by about five metres. Enner Valencia goes off looking a bit sore and sorry.
82′ Min – The second half has been a bit rubbish if we may say so. Maybe it’s the almost 4am sleepiness, or foul after foul stopping and starting the game.
86′ Min – Ecuador waste a 3 on 2 advantage. But you can do that when you’re 2-0 up. Qatar’s best chance of the game came from the goal kick straight to the Qatar forward whose shot only just missed over the crossbar.
90′ Min + 4 – One final corner for Ecuador fizzles out, much like the second half.
90′ Min + 5 – One final corner for Qatar is dealt with by Ecuador, much like the game itself.
Final Score
ECUADOR 2
Enner Valencia 16′ (pen)
Enner Valencia 31′
QATAR 0
Player of the Match
Enner Valencia
Points of Interest
- Rumours were doing the rounds that Qatar had allegedly bribed Ecuador players to ensure the results was a 1-0 win for the home side. Whilst that is hard to believe, it didn’t stop us putting on a bet in case the 1-0 happened. We guess suspicions were raised when the score 1-0 was stitched on the Qatari shirts (a joke – didn’t actually happen that we know of).
- Nice to see VAR ruining the World Cup early. Taking away the decision part, the VAR has destroyed the confidence in team’s celebrating goals these days which stinks.
- The TV cameras panned to a long range shot of Ecuador celebrating which had the Qatar goalkeeper’s back in the background. The fact that the name on his shirt said Saad as he looked on with hands on hips probably did make him look saad.
- Bit of a crap time slot for the opening game if you live in the Asia-Pacific zone. Thankfully Ecuador were in the mood, and it looked a poor opening game of the tournament on paper.
- Qatar looked like a side in their first World Cup, so we should be easy on them. But then again, stuff them as they were gifted a spot they not have gotten otherwise.
Group A Qatar v Ecuador Match Stats
Group A Qatar v Ecuador Starting Teams
QATAR
GK 1 Al Sheeb
DEF 2 Carvalho Deus Correia
DEF 15 Al Rawi
DEF 16 Khoukhi
DEF 3 Al Haj Fadlalla
DEF 14 Ahmed
MID 10 Al Haydos
MID 12 Boudiaf
MID 6 Mohammed Abdullah
FWD 19 Abdulla
FWD 11 Afif
ECUADOR
GK 1 Galíndez
DEF 17 Preciado
DEF 2 Torres
DEF 3 Hincapié
DEF 7 Estupiñán
MID 19 Plata
MID 20 Méndez
MID 23 Caicedo
MID 10 Ibarra
FWD 13 E Valencia
FWD 11 Estrada
Group A Qatar v Ecuador Match Preview
Why should you care?
Because if you can’t get excited for the opening game of the World Cup, then what the bloody hell are we doing here.
Sure, on paper you probably wouldn’t watch Qatar v Ecuador in football by choice before, or again, but it is the opening game of the World Cup.
Thinking back to 2018 and the World Cup in Russia, their opening game v Saudi Arabia sounded pretty dull too, but the home nation blew everyone away, and especially Saudi Arabia by winning 5-0. It was a first result that set off a number of upsets in the group stage, so what will Qatar v Ecuador say about this tournament? Who knows, but make sure it is nice if you are reporting from there.
You could also unfairly say that this is a rare occasion to see Qatar playing in a World Cup, because without being a host nation again for a while, how many chances will you get?
Who should you care about?
A name that some Premier League followers might recognise is Enner Valencia who played with West Ham and Everton for four seasons combined. While his EPL record may not be great, he is sure important to Ecuador. Captain and the leading goal scorer of the current squad. He’s contributed 47% of the total goals of the current Ecuador squad at just under one every two games.
Brighton’s Moisés Caicedo is another you may know, or will get to know more with big clubs chasing his signature. No better shop window to overpay for a player than a World Cup.
100% of the Qatar squad are based in Qatar, so we have 0% idea of who is good or not for Qatar if we’re honest. But we’re picking a 2-1 for Qatar based mainly on fear of failure, so they’re going to need goal, and in fairness they have quite a few goal scorers – eight of their squad have ten or more goals for Qatar. Almoez Ali has scored 42 goals in 85 games for Qatar, which is more goals and 30 fewer games than for his current club. Solid form.
Full 2022 World Cup Squads & Stats
Is there a barely interesting fact?
We think the Enner Valencia scoring 47% of Ecuador’s current goals is a pretty good one.
Qatar’s record at home to South American nations is W1 D1 L1.
Who will win?
Qatar 2 Ecuador 1
2022 World Cup Tournament Predictions
Group A Qatar v Ecuador Match Stats
Coming after the match.
