Group A: Qatar v Ecuador (Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor)

So here we are the opening game of the 2022 World Cup, and the hosts take on South American opposition in the guise of Ecuador.

Qualification route:

Qatar – N/A (Hosts)

Ecuador – South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) Fourth Place

Form (last three games):

27 October (Friendly) Qatar 1–0 Honduras [Marbella, Spain]

5 November (Friendly) Qatar 2–1 Panama [Marbella, Spain]

9 November (Friendly) Qatar 1–0 Albania [Marbella, Spain]

23 September (Friendly) – Saudi Arabia 0–0 Ecuador [Murcia, Spain]

27 September (Friendly) – Japan 0–0 Ecuador [Dusseldorf, Germany]

12 November (Friendly) – Ecuador 0–0 Iraq [Madrid, Spain]

Preview:

Hard to gauge what level Qatar (The Maroons) are realistically on the world stage, despite a FIFA ranking of No: 50, since they have not taken on any of the big guns at international level in the last couple of years. However, they come into this first game on the back of an unbeaten five game run in games played out in Spain with victories over Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Albania.

Ecuador (The Tricolours) are appearing at their fourth Finals having qualified in 2002, 2006 and 2014. Their best performance was back in 2006 when they emerged from their group as runners-up, before going out to England in the last sixteen to a second-half David Beckham free-kick. The team ranked 44 in the FIFA standings have gone unbeaten in their recent three game tour in Europe and have not conceded in their last six fixtures, however, they have only scored two goals in those games and not scored in their last three.

Whilst the Qatar squad is drawn from the Qatari Stars league, there are some familiar faces from the Ecuador squad, who all coincidently play for Brighton in the English Premier League – defender, Pervis Estupinan, and midfielders, Jeremy Sarmiento and Moises Caicedo. Sarmiento is an interesting one in that he played for England at U16, U17 and U18 before switching to the country of his birth.

Opening games tend to be cagey affairs with goals at a premium and given the recent form of the respective sides today there is no reason to see that changing. I’m going for a 0-0 later today, with both sides happy to take a point.