Qatar v Ecuador Tips: Who will win the World Cup 2022 opener at Al Bayt?
By Joe Crann
Qatar v Ecuador Prices18 November 2022
It’s time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to get started as hosts Qatar kick off the tournament against Ecuador at Al Bayt Stadium - this all feels a little strange!
The two sides have had very different routes to the tournament. Let’s start with the Qataris, who will make their tournament debut courtesy of hosting the thing. Félix Sánchez’s ‘The Maroon’ have been in decent form in their pre-tournament friendlies, but it’s over a year since they played a competitive fixture and they obviously didn’t need to qualify for the competition.
Meanwhile, the Ecuadorians have qualified through one of the toughest groups in the world. ‘La Tricolor’ picked up wins against Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay and Chile on their march to the 2022 World Cup, as well as earning points against Brazil and Argentina along the way. That’s one reason why the latter are favourites for the opening game.
Opening day goalfest? Probably not
Everybody wants the opening game to get off to a fast-paced start, with goals, drama and just loads of fun. But, if recent fixtures are to be taken into consideration, that may not be the case.
The hosts haven’t scored more than twice in any game for almost a year, despite winning five friendlies on the bounce in the build-up to the tournament, and they’re going up against a side that hasn’t conceded a single goal since March.
Ecuador are hardly prolific goalscorers themselves with just two goals in their last six matches – though they lost none of them. The last time they netted twice in a game was in a 2-0 victory over Chile in qualifying back in November 2021.
All of this doesn’t guarantee a low-scoring game, of course, but it certainly hints that it could be a defensive battle.
How important is home advantage?
The host nation has never lost their opening World Cup game - a trend that dates all the way back to 1930. There have been a fair few draws, but it’s been mostly opening game home wins in the biggest sporting event on the planet.
We saw Russia annihilate Saudi Arabia 5-0 last time out, while the Selecao breezed past Croatia with a 3-1 victory in Brazil. Even though South Africa became the first hosts to fail at getting out of the group stages in 2010, they still managed to draw their opening game (1-1) with Mexico.
Many believe that that may change this time around. Qatar’s squad is 100% locally-based and there isn’t too much experience of playing on such a grand scale, while Ecuador are playing in the tournament for the fourth time and boast Premier League and Bundesliga players in their squad. They should have too much firepower for Qatar in a low-scoring affair.