Qatar opened West Asia’s first FIFA World Cup earlier than world leaders and soccer followers. Enner Valencia of Ecuador scored the primary two objectives of the event
Enner Valencia of Ecuador scored two objectives — a penalty and a header — in opposition to Qatar to provide the South American facet the higher hand within the first half of the opening match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Valencia had a objective disallowed for offside in simply the third minute of the sport, however went on to search out the online twice after that. Qatar had just one try at objective with the final motion of the primary half — a header from Almoez Ali that was off course.
Ecuador’s Enner Valencia scores a disallowed objective Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar on November 20, 2022
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Reuters
Valencia was a thorn within the facet of the Qatari defence, drawing three fouls, all of which resulted in yellow playing cards.
Extra updates to observe.
Qatar Coach: Felix Sanchez (ESP)
Qatar line-up: Saad Alsheeb; Pedro Miguel, Bassam Hisham, Boualem Khoukhi, Abdelkarim Hassan, Homam Ahmed; Karim Boudiaf, Abdulaziz Hatem, Hassan Al Haydos (captain); Almoez Ali, Akram Afif
Ecuador coach: Gustavo Alfaro (ARG)
Ecuador line-up: Hernan Galindez; Angelo Preciado, Felix Torres, Piero Hincapie, Pervis Estupinan; Gonzalo Plata, Moises Caicedo, Jhegson Mendez, Romario Ibarra; Enner Valencia (captain), Michael Estrada
Referee: Daniele Orsato (ITA)
Opening ceremony
Qatar opened West Asia’s first FIFA World Cup earlier than world leaders and soccer followers who’ve poured into this energy-rich nation after it was battered by a regional boycott and worldwide criticism.
Jung Kook of BTS performs with Fahad Al Kubaisi through the opening ceremony of the 2022 FIFA World Cup at Al Bayt Stadium on November 20, 2022 in Al Khor, Qatar.
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Getty Photos
With American actor Morgan Freeman’s dulcet voice and an Arabian theme with camels, the opening ceremony started with a promise of “everyone seems to be welcome.”
Whatever the end result of Qatar versus Ecuador on the pitch, Doha already has drawn Saudi Arabia’s highly effective Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the opening ceremony and inaugural match of the event.
That Prince Mohammed, whose nation had closed Qatar’s solely land border to the world via the dominion over a yearslong political dispute, will attend reveals how far the rapprochement between the 2 nations has gone.
Newspaper columns through the disaster had even instructed digging a trench alongside the 87-kilometer (54-mile) border and filling it with nuclear waste on the peak of the battle. Whereas rhetorical bluster, it confirmed how deeply the anger ran within the area amid the dispute — which Kuwait’s then-ruler instructed almost sparked a battle.
Its root got here from Qatar’s stance in supporting the Islamists who rose to energy in Egypt and elsewhere following the 2011 Arab Spring. Whereas Qatar seen their arrival as a sea change within the gerontocracies gripping the Mideast, different Gulf Arab nations noticed the protests as a menace to their autocratic and hereditary rule.
Qatar additionally confronted criticism from the West as teams they funded initially in Syria’s civil battle turned extremists. Qatar later would deny that it ever funded Islamic extremists, regardless of criticism from throughout the American political spectrum from Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump.
Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, follows an ultraconservative model of Islam often called Wahhabism. But the nation permits alcohol to be served in lodge bars and at a FIFA Fan Zone within the nation. Already, some within the nation have criticized what they view as Western cultural extravaganzas of the event — possible resulting in the stadium beer ban.
Al-Qaida within the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemen-based arm of the extremist group, issued a communique Saturday criticizing the Qataris for internet hosting a event “bringing immoral individuals, homosexuals, sowers of corruption and atheism.”
“We warn our Muslim brothers from following this occasion or attending it,” the group stated, calling on students to not help it. Nevertheless, the al-Qaida arm didn’t instantly threaten the event and has been weakened by years of drone strikes from American forces and engulfed by Yemen’s ongoing battle.
Available Sunday evening on the opening was U.N. Secretary-Common António Guterres, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Kuwait’s crown prince additionally got here, together with the director-general of the World Well being Group and Djibouti’s president. Additionally current was Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
However the greatest applause got here for Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and his father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who secured the event again in 2010.
In the meantime, Iran despatched simply its minister of youth and sports activities — not its hard-line president — as the Islamic Republic faces monthslong protests over the dying of a 22-year-old girl earlier detained by the nation’s morality police.
It stays unclear at what stage Western nations will attend the ceremony and match Sunday evening. Qatar has come underneath withering criticism for its stance on LGBTQ rights and its therapy of the low-paid laborers who constructed the over $200 billion in infrastructure forward of the event.
However forward of the match, an honor guard on camels and Arabian horses, some with M4 rifles slung over their shoulders, awaited the VIPs — and even VVIPs in line with the street indicators — anticipated for the occasion.
Jungkook on the stage
BTS star Jungkook renders his ‘Dreamers’ surrounded by white-clad dancers. The tune highlights the optimism that each World Cup brings on each 4 years and can certainly make the event an thrilling affair, each on and off the sphere.
“Look who we’re, we’re the dreamers, we’ll make it occur ’trigger we imagine it, look who we’re, we’re the dreamers, we’ll make it occur ’trigger we are able to see it,” is how the tune begins
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