Tag: Enner Valencia

Enner Valencia, Ecuador pounce on Qatar stagefright in World Cup opener

Ecuador crashed Qatar’s big party to pick up a potentially crucial win

Qatar made its World Cup debut, but their curtain-raising game against Ecuador did not go according to plan.

Ecuador jumped all over the nervous hosts at Al Bayt Stadium, eventually getting two first-half goals from Enner Valencia and easing their way to a straightforward 2-0 win to open the 2022 tournament. The result marks the first time a host nation has ever lost their opening game at a men’s World Cup.

It took less than three minutes for Valencia to seemingly score for La Tri, only for a convoluted decision involving FIFA’s semi-automated offside system to cause referee Daniele Orsato to rule the goal out.

It was a big let-off for Qatar, but they weren’t ready to take advantage of the gift. The home side was a wreck, misplacing seemingly every other pass as Ecuador pinned them into their own end for long spells.

Valencia’s wait for another chance came just a few minutes later, and this time VAR wouldn’t interfere. The Fenerbahçe striker ran onto a through ball from Michael Estrada as Ecuador broke out in transition. Valencia got to the spot before goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb, drawing contact inside the area. Orsato pointed to the spot, and Valencia converted with ease in the 16th minute.

Valencia would make it 2-0, heading in Ángelo Preciado’s cross from the right flank as Qatar continued to struggle with just about every phase of the game. It was a purely reactive sequence for the hosts, who watched Moisés Caicedo lay the ball back to Preciado, allowed the latter to cross under no pressure, didn’t really mark Estrada (who attacked the cross as well, only for the ball to sail just over his head), and left Valencia with a simple header.

Beyond that, a very physical match saw Orsato give out six yellow cards. When Orsato delivered the last of those, to Akram Afif in the 78th minute, the bookings count nearly matched the total number of shot attempts from both teams (nine).

Valencia would end up being substituted with a possible knock, and was later shown on the broadcast with ice taped to his knee. That’s a worry for Ecuador going forward, but their biggest worry on this night came on an 85th minute chance from Mohammed Muntari. The substitute’s shot following a ball over the top seemed to catch Hernán Galíndez napping in the Ecuador goal, but zipped mercifully over the crossbar.

For Ecuador, a confident 2-0 win was exactly what they need to compete in a difficult group. The Netherlands and Senegal face off on Monday, and Ecuador will have a very tough time on their hands with both of those sides. Anything less than three points in their opener would have left them behind the eight ball.

Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Qatar. They finished without a single shot on goal (something no host has done since 1994), and spent the entire first half looking woefully unprepared for the pressure of the World Cup stage.

A vast improvement will be needed if they’re to have any chance of getting a result against Senegal, which will likely be necessary if they’re to get to the final group stage games with any chance of advancing.

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Why was Ecuador’s World Cup opener vs. Qatar ruled out?

It took all of three minutes for the World Cup to get weird

An unusual offside call delayed the opening goal of the World Cup, as Ecuador’s third-minute opening goal against Qatar was called back.

A Pervis Estupiñán free kick from near midfield drew Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb off his line for an attempted punch, but Félix Torres got his head to the service first. Chaos ensued, with the ball bouncing amid hesitant players from both sides. Al-Sheeb retreated to his line, while Michael Estrada kept the play alive with a second header.

That guided the ball towards Torres, who went for an acrobatic volley. Torres didn’t get good contact on the ball, but he did enough to float it to the back post for Enner Valencia to easily head home from four yards out.

It would have been the fastest-ever opening goal in a World Cup, but over a minute after the ball crossed the line, referee Daniele Orsato signaled that the semi-automated VAR system was chalking the goal off.

What happened?

Initially, it seemed that the issue was Valencia’s positioning when the free kick came in. Qatar’s abysmal marking left the Fenerbahçe veteran wide open, but one brief replay made it look like Valencia might have been ahead of the ball when Torres beat Al-Sheeb to the initial service.

Boualem Khoukhi was clearly between Valencia and the goal, and while it looked like Almoez Ali was level with the Ecuadorian marksman, the early signs pointed to the call going against Valencia anyway.

It’s not very common for the two players between an attacker and the goal to not include a goalkeeper, but it can happen in situations like this. Between the potential for that being the issue, and a lack of initial information from the broadcast — which was not helped by the frantic first few minutes of the match — plenty of viewers worldwide were at a loss.

It was only a few minutes later that the audience found out that the call was actually against Estrada. As part of that aforementioned semi-automated VAR system, FIFA produced a computer-generated image highlighting that Estrada’s right leg was — just barely — offside as Torres and Al-Sheeb collided when the free kick initially came in.

It’s a call that was not obvious in real time, or even from most replay angles. Estrada was obscured by the collision between Al-Sheeb, Torres, and Qatar defender Ró-Ró. All eyes were understandably on Valencia, who was almost impossibly open.

Ultimately, the whole episode only served as a delay for Ecuador. Valencia would get on the scoresheet in the 16th minute, calmly converting a 16th minute penalty kick, and then heading a cross into the bottom corner in the 31st minute that survived a VAR check.

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