Valencia bags a brace as Qatar becomes first host nation to lose their opening match in Fifa World Cup's 92-year history
Qatar has made history and that is something they will not be really proud of.
Qatar has made history and that is something they will not be really proud of. They became the first-ever host nation to lose their opening match in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in the tournament's 92-year history. The unsavory taste of this result may linger a bit longer than the hosts would like in the grand scheme of things.
Ecuador skipper bagged a brace, both coming in the first half to seal a 2-0 victory over the hosts at Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday.
The match began with controversy with Ecuador finding the back of the net on a wild little sequence in the box, but VAR shockingly called an offside that seemed very harsh, yet it was backed up by the recently introduced automated offside technology.
But just 10 minutes later, Ecuador would finally get their opener on a well-deserved penalty kick. Valencia was taken down in the box and cooly finished the spot kick for the 1-0 lead. He would add his second before the break with a brilliant, powerful header to the bottom left corner of the goal to all but wrap up the win.
Qatar, meanwhile, showed next to nothing during their first World Cup match in the history of their program.
The reigning champions of Asia barely looked like a threat to create a chance, let alone score, putting them in a difficult spot moving forward.
The other teams in Group A, Senegal, and the Netherlands, meet in one of three games on Monday.