After Accusations Of Bribery To Secure Win, Qatar Loses FIFA World Cup Opener To Ecuador

After being accused of bribing eight players from Ecuador over $7.4 million to lose their match against Qatar, the nation's football team suffered a huge loss against Ecuador, becoming the first country hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022 to lose the opening match.

Before the game even begun, strategic political affairs expert Amjad Taha said on Twitter that Qatar had allegedly bribed eight Ecuadorian members $7.4 million to lose the opener by 1-0 on the second half, the latest in a stream of controversy recently befalling the World Cup which included banning alcohol sales in the stadiums, according to the Hindustan Times.

Qatar has previously faced the Ecuadorian team three times in previous World Cup competitions, with each team winning once and with Qatar winning in their last game together in 2018 with a slim 4-3 victory, something which the host country hoped to duplicate during the opening match.

Despite the home court advantage and the hope of showing off the team’s strength as a show of swaggering force, Qatar lost against Ecuador in their game that day with a humiliating 2-0 showing, as Ecuador’s team dominated against the host country during the games, The Guardian reported.

Analysis of the game showed that Qatar’s defense was nervous and lacking against Ecuador, who picked off the weak points which included Qatar’s goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb. A foul by Sheeb allowed Ecuador player Enner Valencia to score a goal through a penalty shot. He ended up scoring the two goals that helped Ecuador win the game, NBC Sports reported.

Felix Sanchez, the coach of the Qatari team, expressed disappointment at the performance of the team in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2022. He had hoped that the team’s performance would be a climax and a build-up to a potential successful run in the games. “Maybe the responsibility and nerves got the better of us,” Sanchez said. “We had a terrible start and this determines the rest of the match. We’ll just have to forget about the pressure and be more competitive. We can do it.”

Qatar will be facing the Senegal team on Friday.