sports desk/

In the heat of the petro dollar, Qatar brought the World Cup to the desert in winter instead of the usual time of the World Cup. The hosts could not avoid shame. Qatar became the first host in the 92-year history of the World Cup to lose the opening match. Drowned in shame. Group underdogs Ecuador kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win.

22 countries have hosted the World Cup in the previous 21 editions (Japan and Korea jointly in 2002). Out of these 16 matches have been won by the host team. The remaining six matches were drawn.

South American team Ecuador knows how to play football. The neighboring country of Brazil-Colombia, which is ranked 12th in the ranking, put the ball in Qatar’s net in the 3rd minute of the match. This means that they are a rich country with a rich Latin football tradition. There is no opportunity to shorten them.

But in the new automated offside technology of the World Cup, Inner Valencia’s goal was disallowed. Despite the upset, Valencia did not take long to bring back the festive moment. He gave the team the lead from the penalty in the 16th minute of the match.

He was fouled by Qatar’s goalkeeper Saad Al Saeeb in the face of the goal. The experienced goalkeeper also saw a yellow card. Ecuador, who came to the World Cup after sending Chile-Colombia out of the Latin region, got the spot kick. Record here too. In the history of the World Cup, the first goal of this first season was from a penalty.

Ecuador scored the second goal without erasing the celebration of that goal. Inner Valencia also scored in the 31st minute of the match. He headed the team to a 2-0 lead in the first half. In the second half, the pace of the game slowed down a bit. There was no goal. Ecuador created scoring chances but they were not strong.

The host Qatar could not take any shot to score in the match. But five were attacked. In between, they only created one chance to score with a header before the final whistle of the first half. Despite winning the match with the baton in hand, Ecuador’s camp is full of worries. The 33-year-old star of the Fenerbahçe team left the field with an injury in the 71st minute of the Valencia match.