Ecuador beat Qatar 2-0 this Sunday afternoon (20), at Brasilia time. The match marked the opening of the 2022 World Cup and was played at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor, approximately 35 kilometers north of Doha.
The team’s two goals were scored by striker Enner Valencia. The first came out at 15 minutes of the initial stage through a penalty kick. The striker displaced goalkeeper Al-Sheeb hitting the left corner with his right leg. The definition of the score occurred at 30 minutes of the first half. On the right, Torres crosses at Valencia’s head. The artilleryman headed to the ground and outplayed the Qatari archer.
Before that, just two minutes into the game, Valencia had already scored. But the bid was invalidated by impediment in marking confirmed by the referee Daniele Orsato after the aid of the VAR Massimiliano Irrati. The detail is that, still in the initial stage, Valencia injured his right knee and continued on the field without the best physical conditions until the 30th minute of the second half, when he left to make way for Cifuentes.
In the second half, the pace of the game dropped; the Ecuadorians managed the match and the Arabs didn’t have the strength to change the scoreboard. With this victory, Ecuador leads Group A of the World Cup with 3 points. The initial round of the bracket will be completed this Monday (21st) with the game between Senegal and the Netherlands, starting at 1 pm, in Al Thumama, in the city of Doha.
In addition to this match, the World Cup will have two other matches tomorrow. In group B, England and Iran face each other from 10 am at the Khalifa International and the United States takes on the Wales team at the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium at 4 pm. Ecuador returns to the field on Friday (25) to face the Netherlands, at the Khalifa International stadium at 1 pm. And Qatar will play the second match on the same day at 10am against Senegal.
