The opening game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup kicks off on Sunday at 4 pm GMT, between host nation Qatar and CONMEBOL outfit Ecuador.
Qatar enters this competition’s finals for the first time in their sporting history. This will be a momentous occasion for a side that are ranked 50th in FIFA’s World Rankings.
Although many will be sceptical about the quality that they possess, Qatar managed to win the AFC Asian Cup in 2019 as they won all seven games against the likes of Lebanon 2-0, Saudi Arabia 2-0, North Korea 6-0, Iraq 1-0, South Korea 1-0 and the UAE 4-0 before earning a tremendous 3-1 victory against Japan in the final thanks to goals by Almoez Ali, Abdulaziz Hatem Mohammed Abdullah and Akrim Afif.
On top of this, Qatar also paired themselves with European World Cup qualifying Group A, which contained the likes of Serbia, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Republic of Ireland and Azerbaijan in order to give them competitive match practice.
Qatar actually beat Sunday’s opponents Ecuador 4-3 in an international friendly back in October 2018 in Doha. Something that may give them confidence ahead of Sunday’s match.
Former Barcelona youth coach Felix Sanchez is Qatar’s manager heading into this competition and has managed their senior side since July 2017, winning 46 and drawing 16 of his 86 matches in charge.
Hassan Al-Haydos is Qatar’s captain, with the Al-Sadd midfielder making a record 169 appearances for his country since making his debut in 2008. The 31-year-old has scored 31 goals for Qatar and can also play as a striker or winger.
On top of this, Al-Haydos’ teammate Ali, is the country’s joint all-time top scorer with 42 goals in 85 caps. The former LASK striker was actually born in Sudan and can move ahead of the initial record holder Mansour Muftah with a goal on Sunday, despite being only 26 years of age.
Ecuador will come into this match as favourites heading into kick-off, as they are 44th in the FIFA World Rankings and had to qualify through a touch CONMEBOL group, doing so ahead of reputable sides such as Peru, Colombia, Chile and Paraguay.
Gustavo Alfaro’s men amassed a total of 26 points from 18 matches, scoring 27 goals, which was the same number of goals that Argentina managed in qualifying. La Tricolor’s top scorer in qualifying was Michael Estrada with six goals. The 26-year-old currently plies his trade at Cruz Azul, whilst being on loan from fellow Mexican side Toluca.
Their most notable attacking threat is that of former West Ham striker Enner Valencia, who is on Fenerbahce’s books nowadays. The 33-year-old is Ecuador’s all-time top scorer with 35 goals in 74 caps and managed to find the back of the net four times in South American World Cup qualifying. Valencia is having a superb campaign in the Turkish Super Lig, as he has fired in 13 goals in 12 matches.
Ecuador enters this tournament with a relatively young squad, with their other most notable players being Brighton & Hove Albion trio Pervis Estupinan, Moises Caicedo and Jeremy Sarmiento. As well as this, they also have Piero Hincapie of Bayer Leverkusen in defence, as well as FC Augsburg defensive midfielder Carlos Gruezo among their ranks.
La Tricolor showed in qualifying that they are certainly no pushovers, having earned 1-1 draws with both Argentina and Brazil, whilst notably thrashing Colombia 6-1 at home back in November 2020 as Robert Arboleda, Angel Mena, Estrada, Xavier Arreaga, Gonzalo Plata and Estupinan all got on the scoresheet.
QATAR TEAM NEW
Qatar will have a full complement of players at their disposal. We expect that the experienced Saad Al-Sheeb will take his place in goal having won the ‘Best Goalkeeper Award’ in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
In defence, Ismael Mohammad Bassam Al-Rawi, Boulalem Khouki, Abdelkarim Hassan and Homam Ahmed will likely form a back five, with Hatem, Karim Boudiaf and the versatile Al-Haydos in the Qatar midfield.
Up front, we can expect to see Ali and Afif partner each other, notably, Ali has scored twice this month for his national team, in two international friendlies against Albania and Panama and is priced at 8/1 to score first.
ECUADOR TEAM NEWS
Ecuador also have no injury worries heading into Sunday’s curtain-raiser which will be good news for head coach Alfaro.
La Tri will likely line-up with Alexander Dominguez in goal, whilst their back four will consist of Genk’s Angel Preciado, Sao Paolo’s Robert Arboleda, as well as Hincapie and Estupinan. In their midfield three, we also predict that Gruezo, Caicedo and Jhegson Mendez will start. Ecuador’s attack will likely consist of Plata, Estrada and Valencia.
Valencia, who scored three goals at the World Cup in Brazil back in 2014 is priced at 9/4 to score anytime, whilst Estrada, who finished as Ecuador’s top scorer in CONMEBOL qualifying is priced at 11/2 to add to score first.
Qatar vs. Ecuador Match Info
2022 World Cup — Group Stage (A)
Date: Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022
Time: 11:00 a.m. ET/ 16:00p.m GMT
Venue: Al Bayt Stadium, Qatar
BETTING TIPS
Qatar have to hope that home advantage pays off for them, but I very much doubt it. It’s going to be very difficult for them to get out of this group – in fact, I think they will finish bottom.
Ecuador are quite a defensive-minded team so there won’t be many goals in this opening game, but they should still find a way of winning it.
USEFUL INFO: For many others, they say because the host nation “Qatar” is opening the game today, they will have more chances of winning or drawing with the Ecuadorians, hence Qatar to Win/Draw (1 : 1 ) in the opening match.
After visiting popular sports betting sites, below are our predictions:
Full time Correct Score: 0-1
First Half Correct Score : 0:0/Draw
Over/Under Goals : Under (2.5) goals
Anytime goal scorer : Almoez Ali(Qatar)
Anytime goal scorer : Enna Valencia(Ecuador)
Butler,s pick: UNDER (2.5) GOALS
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