After the loss to Ecuador in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup, Qatar coach Felix Sanchez said that his team needs to defend well and stay organised in order to be competitive.
Enner Valencia scored a brace to help Ecuador defeat Qatar in the opening game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar on Sunday. “We fought this game in a certain way, but our opponent had their own ideas. It is not that we did not want to attack, but our opponent had their own weapons,” said Sanchez as quoted by Sky Sports.
“If we want to be competitive, we will need to defend, and be very well organised. When we have possession we would like to be more effective,” added the coach.
The group A game saw the hosts being dominated by the South Americans, with the match seeing the maiden instance where the opening goal of a World Cup was scored through a penalty kick.
Ecuador’s captain Enner Valencia set the FIFA World Cup on fire with a goal within three minutes of the football extravaganza kicking off. The striker received the ball off a kick by Felix Torres and headed it into the net, sparking celebration by Ecuadorian fans.
However, the celebration was short-lived as the referee ruled the goal as off-side. A VAR check confirmed that the goal was off-side.
Ecuador kept on attacking and kept possession of the ball, while the Qatari players seemed to be chasing itl.
Valencia made a superb run in the 16th minute of the match towards the goal but a tackle from Qatar’s goalkeeper Al Sheeb saw him going down and winning a penalty for his team.
Sheeb was given a yellow for his tackle on Valencia by the goalkeeper and a penalty was also awarded to Ecuador.
The Ecuador captain was spot on with the penalty kick as he sent the ball into the right-bottom corner, scoring his fourth career World Cup goal and giving his team a 1-0 lead over hosts Qatar.
Qatar players found it difficult to settle down against the South-American team as the team lost possession continuously, failing to pass the ball cleanly. Another yellow card for Qatar came to Almoez Ali for his tackle on the Ecuadorian captain.