Qatar - Ecuador: Waiting for historic victory
"However, all of Qatar's hopes and optimism ahead of the 2022 World Cup, can easily and quickly turn into a terrifying experience," ESPN commented.
Qatar - 50th in the FIFA rankings - makes its World Cup debut as one of the lowest-placed hosts in tournament history. They are also judged to lack international experience when all 26 players attending the 2022 World Cup are competing domestically, in the Qatar Stars League.
Setting its ambitions to pass the group stage, Qatar needs to win all three points in the opening match against Ecuador, before encountering two much stronger teams, Senegal and the Netherlands.
Ranked 44th in the world, Ecuador is far behind the Netherlands (8th), Senegal (18th) and only six places ahead of Qatar. The attack of the South American representative lacked sharpness when he drew 0-0 in four of the last five matches, including three matches against the Asian representative Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iraq.
This is proof that the host Qatar can beat Ecuador in front of the cheers of thousands of fans on Al Bayt Stadium today. In the way to win the Asian Cup 2019, they beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the last round of the group stage, before defeating Japan 3-1 in the final.
Today's match has been prepared by Qatar for more than a decade, especially with Felix Sanchez - Spain coach who went to Qatar to train in 2006 and has led the country's national team since 2013, and captain Hassan al- Haydos - striker scored 36 goals in 169 matches for Qatar since his debut in 2008.
"All we've done over the years has been to build a squad that's competitive in the World Cup. Every country's circumstances are different and Qatar is a small country," Sanchez said before the match. "After so many years, this is the end of a cycle - 16 years working in this country. I participate in the project, develop and follow in the footsteps of the players in the team."
The 46-year-old coach is proud and wants to enjoy the first World Cup of his career. "We know the potential of the three opponents in the same group. In terms of history and talent of the players, they are ahead of Qatar. In theory, they should take the three points and perhaps also aim to beat Qatar. But We are here to show that Qatar is a competitive team."
Meanwhile, Al-Haydos is confident of Qatar's current strength. The 31-year-old striker said: "This is a childhood dream. We have tried to qualify but have never succeeded in the past. And if we qualify this year, I think Qatar will also win tickets to the World. Cup 2022".
In fact, Qatar is the fifth Asian team in the FIFA rankings, after Australia, South Korea, Japan, Iran, and has a great chance of making it through the group stage if it has to play, as Al-Haydos said.
But that's just a theory, and the problem now is that Qatar is preparing to fight in the World Cup. They need positive results to prove their ability, and today's match against Ecuador is a better opportunity.
Expected starting lineup:
