Soccer will also be played at this Soccer World Cup in Qatar. On Sunday for the first time. The opening game between the controversial hosts and Ecuador is a one-sided affair. Qatar plays Al Bayt Stadium empty. The spectators leave it almost in haste.
Qatar fans from everywhere, with flags on the jeeps, in traditional costumes and without. A sandstorm blows through the deserted countryside between Doha and Al-Khor, the country’s second largest city. There stands a desert tent in the middle of nothing. The Al Bayta Stadium. Everyone wants to go there. The streets are congested, like on the way from downtown Munich to the Allianz Arena.
The national team Qatar opens what is probably the most controversial World Cup in history. Against Ecuador who are looking forward to it. The first game of the soccer World Cup is a game that is not only subject to enormous political pressure. It’s one that will have a significant impact on the atmosphere in the emirate in the coming weeks of the World Cup. Can the national team rock the country or will it perish hopelessly? Or can she be heroically eliminated?
After months in seclusion in Austria and on the coast of Spain, coach Felix Sanchez’s team returned to Qatar just a few days ago. “It’s been a long time, but that’s what we wanted: good climatic conditions and trying to prepare the team well there,” says the 46-year-old Spaniard: “We’re very confident that it was good preparation. We want to be there November 20.”
It has long been unclear whether Sanchez will even lead the team to the World Cup. The name of Zinedine Zidane hangs over Qatar, but that’s it. Perhaps also because the world star recognizes the dangers of the job early on. From what we know after that opening game, Qatar is, and probably was, beyond salvage.
They look like a district league team that, due to a fortunate coincidence in history, is suddenly allowed to take part in a soccer World Cup. They run the risk of ending their group in last place and dropping out of the tournament without a word. Unlike the only host to date who missed out on the round of 16: South Africa, who still managed to get four points and a win against France, the world champions of 2006, in 2010.
The story of the game is quickly told. Enner Valencia scores three times. The first hit falls victim to the VAR. A disallowed goal that could have fueled more conspiracy theories. But it doesn’t, because somewhere a VAR image is raised that there is an offside position. And also because Valencia hits first with a penalty and later with a head. Qatari goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb exudes real World Cup spirit. He is the keeper of an absolute underdog who tears his team into the abyss. By wandering around in the penalty area, Enner repeatedly knocking Valencia off his feet and being lucky at the same time because the Italian referee Daniel Orsato only awarded a penalty and a yellow card.
Awkward Qataris also try to defend against La Tri outside the penalty area with all sorts of means. The South Americans control what is happening on the pitch at Al-Bayt at all times. You never run the risk of conceding a goal. Your task is to dodge the Qataris’ fouls. They are clumsy fouls. They’re always late. Mostly the South Americans can dodge. But eventually everything ends. So does Enner Valencia’s steadfast fight against kicks. In the 77th minute he still has to leave the pitch. He cools his knee on the bench. With a total of five World Cup goals, three of which he scored at the tournament in Brazil in 2014, he is extending his national record. “Enner will play against the Netherlands,” said Ecuador coach Gustavo Alfredo after the game. Everything half as wild.
On the few occasions when the hosts manage to get a tackle, they actually win the ball. But that’s all too seldom the case. The offensive efforts of the Qataris are rated as poor or too good. Once, at the half-time whistle, Pedro Correira asserts himself on the right attacking side. A quick pass to Hassan Al-Hayods, the icon of football in the emirate and the only real Qatari in the team. Cross from the half field, in the middle Almoez Ali forgives the header miserably.
There is little to see of 26-year-old Akram Afif. The left winger, who briefly tried his luck in Spain, was given credit for his shot in the second half reminiscent of one by Abdelkarim Hassan in the first. Both fly far over the goal into the fan block. Afif’s ball lands with the cheering fans of the Qataris, although clearly thinned out in the second half, who sing their way through the songbook of European clubs and also give Union Berlin’s promotion hit “The time has come now” a new coat of paint. The group at least brings some atmosphere into the desert tent, which is only sparsely occupied.
Ecuador’s fans are singing themselves warmly well before kick-off. But eventually they get bored. They try it with La-Ola, but the wave breaks immediately. Then they remain silent and sometimes, because it’s also a bit fashionable, they ask for beer. On the opposite side, a large group of Qatar fans move into the back goal block only after the opening ceremony. Until then it had remained free. The fans come in burgundy Qatar shirts, with drums and lead singers. They sway and shout and throw their arms in the air. The hosts have also denied allegations of buying fans from all over the world in order to breathe some positive vibes into the tournament. These fans are also moving in the tradition of the allegations. It is unclear where they come from, where they have been and who they are. So much of what Qatar touches at this tournament can be used against them.
In Qatar itself, too, the euphoria is likely to have been dampened. This can be seen in the empty, questioning looks of the spectators in the stadium and it is visible in the countless free seats in the second half. Little is left of the 67,372 fans. Those who left didn’t miss much in the second half anyway. The goals are enough for Ecuador, Qatar can’t do anything with the ball and thus becomes the first World Cup host to lose an official opening game. Everything is much worse: The next negative entry in the history books is imminent. They now need four points from the two games against Senegal and the Netherlands. Otherwise it will be very bitter. Then Qatar has the worst hosting team of all time.