It is a success for the national team of the World Cup hosts: Qatar scores the first goal at the World Cup. That will be celebrated unleashed in the second group game against Senegal. Since it’s still not enough for a win, the stadium empties again early. Senegal creates first victory for Africa.
For the proud host Qatar, the World Cup is becoming more and more of a sporting fiasco. The less competitive Asian champions also lost their second group game against Senegal 1:3 (0:1) despite a small increase in performance. After the later game of group opponents Netherlands against Ecuador it is clear: Qatar was eliminated early. A few hours earlier, the Qatari lack of enthusiasm for the World Cup matched this: Many places remained empty.
“Today we showed what we are capable of,” said national coach Felix Sanchez. The aim was to be competitive, and that was successful. “We played well. We managed to improve our performance.” You have to see where the team comes from, Sanchez said. In a small country like Qatar, there are many restrictions. The aim now is to play well in the difficult third round match against the Netherlands.
Bolaye Dia (41st minute), Famara Diedhiou (48th) and Bamba Dieng (84th) took advantage of the many mistakes made by the hosts in front of 41,797 spectators and killed the African champions in the fight, who had been weakened by the injury to Bayern star striker Sadio Mané the round of 16 ticket back into business. Qatar, who still got the connection goal through substitute Mohammed Muntari (78th), are still waiting for the first point – a World Cup host has never been so bad.
Qatar had invested a lot of money in the sporting development of the national team for twelve years, and the team had been preparing intensively for the finals since June – apparently all in vain. The team of Spanish coach Felix Sanchez also presented itself as a sporty lightweight against Senegal for a long time, made many mistakes and sometimes looked hopelessly inferior. And the toughest group opponents with the Netherlands are still waiting for the end on Tuesday (4 p.m.).
Coach Sanchez had tried new impulses, bringing in a new goalkeeper in Meshaal Barsham for Saad Al-Sheeb, who was so uncertain in the opening game. But even the new number one only had limited control of the goalkeeping game. Barsham underwent corners, misjudged running out and tangled with the ball on his foot. There was a reason why the spectators cheered every successful attempt by Barsham.
Significantly, the West Africans’ opening goal also came after a dreadful mistake by the hosts. Defense boss Boualem Khoukhi stepped over the ball, Dia gratefully accepted the invitation and scored the lead. Previously, the great deficit of the Senegalese had shown up again. Without Mané, Aliou Cissé’s team lacks efficiency in front of goal, like the shot by Idrissa Gueye (25′) or a long pass to Ismaila Sarr, who missed the ball in a good position (26′).
In Qatar, a missed penalty was the biggest upset in the first half, when Sarr went to work very woodenly against Akram Afif (34th). Otherwise, defense chief Kalidou Koulibaly and Leipzig’s Abdou Diallo had the opposing strikers well under control. The mass flight of the fans did not start at halftime compared to the Ecuador game this time, but some seats in the stands remained empty when the game started again.
Right at the beginning of the second half, Diedhiou’s header gave the Sanchez team the next blow in the neck. When everything seemed lost, Qatar turned up the heat and had several good chances after just over an hour through Abdelkarim Hassan (61′), Almoez Ali (63′), Pedro Miguel (64′) and Mohammad (67′). In this phase, Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy proved to be a strong support for the Senegalese. But he was powerless against Muntari’s header. But in return, the spark of hope at Dieng’s goal was gone again.