Qatar 0 - Ecuador 2
Valencia - 16' (pen), 31'
Can someone please explain to me what the jinkies happened this morning?
The 2022 FIFA World Cup which is being played in Qatar, a nation so unsuited to playing football that the stadiums have had to be air-conditioned, and even after adjusting for inflation cost more than that last ten World Cups combined to stage, has given us an opening match that will not last long in the memory at all.
The traditional opening match for a World Cup tournament features the home nation against someone else in the group. In Group A, this meant that Qatar got to play Columbia. We have to go all the way back to USA 1994 before we find that an opening match which featured the home nation who was this clearly out of their depth but Qatar very much proved that they're unlikely to even score a goal at this tournament.
One of the benefits of hosting a World Cup is that the home nation is exempt from having to qualify. This is fine if you are a nation like Russia, Germany or even Korea who all rose to the occasion and put in a decent showing but if you are a so-called minnow like Qatar, then this perhaps isn't advisable. When South Africa hosted the World Cup in 2010, they also weren't particularly all that great but they showed loads of pluck and ticker during the tournament and with the whole of South Africa behind them, Bafana Bafana rode the wave of good feelings and national togetherness. Qatar played to a crowd that made less noise than a morgue and to a crowd that mostly couldn't even be bothered to see the second half. My garden shed is fuller than this, it's got a rake and a mower, my kitchen fridge is fuller than this, it's got a spud and an onion. Qatar demonstrated that them having an exemption from having to qualify, left them less prepared than a steak dinner for five where the ingredients consist of a cow standing in a field.
Columbia entered the match knowing that they really wouldn't have to work for their three points. I do not think that it mattered which eleven they out out on the pitch, or which formation they used. As it was, they were able to play the match at barely above walking speed and for the most part, play keep-away from the home-side who looked vastly inept. Their two goals from Valencia were functional and I don't know if they saw the game as a rest before they played proper opposition, or if knowing that they were never going to be challenged from the outset, they did the bare minimum. Two goals and three points in most circumstances would be a good start to the tournament but given that the whole group is likely to walk away with three points from Qatar, maybe this was just about punching the ticket.
I have seen some nil-nil games which have been more exciting than this. A nil-nil match where both sides are going at it like mad things, can be quite entertaining as the two sides become ever more desperate to take home all three points. Columbia never looked desperate. The match already looked to be killed off in the third minute when Valencia's header from bang in front was ruled ruled for offside by VAR. He got his chance 13 minutes later when he was brought down in the box by the Qatari goalkeeper Al Sheeb. Ecuador were all over Qatar until the 31st minute when Valencia doubled the advantage with another header, off of a curler from 29 yards away.
Suffice to say, the highlight reel for this match doesn't do this match justice. The mere existence of a highlight reel suggests that there were any. This was a dour affair, played in front of a disinterested crowd, by apathetic players. The biggest highlight of this match was the referee's final whistle which told everyone that it was over.
It is reported that the Qatar side spent six months training for this World Cup against Qatari club sides. Clearly the standard of that opposition was inadequate if the national side was as undercooked as this. What this should demonstrate to the world is that a home nation should be allowed to participate in the qualifying tournament, even if their qualification is secure. I'm not going to say that the total lack of demonstrated skill by the Qataris was unacceptable but it was incredibly silly.
Given Qatar's appalling human rights abuses in building the stadia for this tournament, their bait and switch by refusing an official sponsor to sell their product at the matches (these matches will be completely surrounded by no beer), and the fact that money spoke for money and yelled louder than all sense and reason, then perhaps Qatar going on to score zero points in the group and get knocked out without scoring a goal, is 1% of justice being served. I do not know it it was the Qatari Government's intent to look foolish on the world stage but they will absolutely do so.
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