Finally, International Tournament football is back. The World Cup is here and the first match was won emphatically by Ecuador. E. Valencia score both goals in the first half and it was over as a contest before it even began. Qatar really did not turn up and was so poor. It was their debut in a world cup and the first of the 13 teams to make their debut at a world cup with a loss. But none were as pitiful as Qatar is potentially one of the worst teams that we have ever seen in this competition so far. But can they raise their game against Senegal? We need to wait to find out.
There was a disallowed goal that’s what everybody wants to talk about. It felt so peculiar nobody really knew what was going on and the way that it was handled by the VAR committee needed to be better. We need to be kept fully in the picture the people in the stadium need to be kept fully in the picture and nobody knew what Earth was going on. However, it was the correct decision. Right, when the ball came off Felix Torres, who was challenging the goalkeeper, it fell to Michael Estrada whose foot was in an offside position. He headed the ball back to Torres, and therefore, it was a correct VAR decision.
But it didn’t really matter when Valencia was robbed of the opener as he got another moment later. In the 16th minute, his goal rightfully stood. Valencia played brilliantly and did everything in that first half. We’re looking at two genuine goals from him, one disallowed goal, and then just about everything else he could possibly do for his team. He drew three fouls resulting in three Qatari players being booked. It’s still impressive for any player can have such an impact like that in a 45-minute period.
Captain Valencia was actually at one point a left-footed strike away from a perfect hat-trick in the opening game of a World Cup. It chilling even to imagine how historic would that have been. Had he managed to nudge the ball home with his left foot he would have hit the perfect hat trick in an opening game. Qatar was totally and utterly outplayed by Ecuador not through Valencia and some other players, but through Ecuador’s dominance and brilliance.
Ecuador’s goalkeeper Hernan gains didn’t have anything to do at all, and at some point, the Qatari players were frozen. Qatar was overridden in this world cup as it was 12 years in the making. Such a higher-level game for such an inexperienced team. Qatar was carrying a lot of weight and pressure and it really did feel like there was just that little bit too much pressure on them. They genuinely couldn’t cope with Ecuador but before we make any judgments on that we have to see them against a better opposition first. People have been so sneery about this tournament on the build-up now it that’s a relief we could focus on the football. Nonetheless, this tournament is going to be fantastic dazzling footballers on display all of the best players and teams going for the amazing dual dramas.