The match between Ecuador and Qatar will start the football tournament
The FIFA World Cup 2022 is going to start in Qatar on 20 November. A grand opening ceremony will be held at the Al Bayt Stadium before the first match of the FIFA World Cup, where around 60,000 football fans are expected to attend.
After the opening ceremony, the World Cup football will start on Sunday with the group stage match between the hosts Qatar and Ecuador. Qatar is in Group A, which includes Ecuador, Senegal and the Netherlands. In 2010, South Africa is the only host nation in the history of the Football World Cup to fail to get past the group stage. In such a situation, the challenge before Qatar will be to avoid such failure. Senegal and the Netherlands are considered strong teams, so Qatar will have the best chance of winning against Ecuador on Sunday. Qatar’s team is ranked 50th in the FIFA rankings while Ecuador’s ranking is 44th. The Qatar team has been preparing for this tournament for the last several years. Under this, the team includes participation in the 2019 Copa America and 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. During this, the team also proved its talent by winning the Asian Cup in 2019. The credit for that continental title was given to the brainchild of coach Felix Sanchez, who has been with the team since 2017. He was earlier in charge of Qatar’s Under-19 team. The success of the Asian Cup, however, cannot be compared to the Summer of the World as the game will be at its top level here.
The Spanish coach said that we will try to keep the team normal. We know there will be pressure, we don’t want to put more pressure on the players. We are following our routine. We are focusing on doing our best while trying to stay away from extraneous discussions about the team. He said that it is difficult to perform in front of 60,000 spectators in the ground. This is the World Cup and there is a lot of expectation from you. However, the Ecuadorian team would like to leave no stone unturned to defeat Qatar. The team was however accused of fielding an ineligible player during World Cup qualification. Chile and Peru alleged that defender Byrne Castillo had ties to Colombia and had illegally played in qualifying matches. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, however, rejected that claim. Castillo was subsequently left out of the 26-man squad selected by coach Gustavo Alfaro for Qatar. It is expected that with the commencement of the Football Mahakumbh on Sunday, all these controversies will be left behind and the discussion will be only about this game.
World Cup is special for Qatar
The holding of the World Cup in Qatar is likely to set aside criticism of the monarchy’s handling of issues such as human rights, migrant workers, the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) community and beer. Qatar, which has already faced a lot of criticism, gave critics another shot when it banned the sale of alcoholic beer to spectators in stadiums on Friday. For Qatar, hosting the World Cup is a step taken in an effort to increase its recognition on the global stage and move towards modernization. It is a moment of national pride for Qatar. But the Qatar team participating in this competition will have to overcome their biggest challenge.
