Victory will keep the door of hope open for passage to the second round

Qatar and Ecuador .. the spark for the start of the World Cup

Qatar players are in good technical and morale before the opening match.

From the source

Today, the host Qatari team stands at the gates of history in front of Ecuador at Al-Bayt Stadium, with its first World Cup participation, opening the first group competitions.

Many titles were given to Al-Annabi on the eve of the expected first match: the Asian champions, the newcomers, the host country, the one with imaginative potential, or the surprise team? At that time, the Azzurri were crowned with the title.

On the other hand, “Al-Adam” seeks to avoid the scenario of South Africa, the only host country that was deposited from the group stage.

Between this and that, the Qataris dream of moderation, knowing that the group is not easy.

In addition to Ecuador, which they previously beat in a friendly in 2018 (4-3), there are the Dutch and Senegalese national teams.

Mathematically, if Qatar achieves a victory over Ecuador, it will keep the door of hope open to crossing into the second round, relying on the other results in the group, and losing means a more complex and difficult path, but it will not be easy against the 2019 Asian champions. This is something the Spanish coach knows very well. Felix Sanchez, who is realistic, and at the same time seeks to break expectations.

It is credited to the Spaniard that he was able to develop a group of young people that won the AFC U-19 Championship in 2014, before adding to them experiences, from the defensive line to the midfield, all the way to the offensive side, which will be under the responsibility of Al-Moez Ali and Akram Afif, and behind them is the captain Hassan Al-Hadrous.

Taking advantage of his direct qualification to the World Cup and his lack of participation in the Asian qualifiers, Al-Annabi was able to participate in the “Copa America” in Brazil in 2019, and the CONCACAF Gold Cup last year, and he was a guest whose results are not counted in the European qualifiers, before he competed in the Arab Cup at home. and reached the semi-finals.

Faced with the enormous pressure on his shoulders, Sanchez says, "The country has done everything in its power for this moment, and I am looking forward to it because it will be historic for us."

He adds, “We are a small country with a small population, and we know that we will play against teams that have players at the individual level, who are very strong and of a high level, and who play in the best leagues and the best clubs in the world.

So we have the weapons we have, and we have to use them.”

Regarding Ecuador, the Spaniard considered that this team “had an amazing career in the World Cup qualifiers, on a continent that is very difficult to qualify from.

We are well aware of our reality, but we will not give up.

Although it ranked third in South America, Ecuador ranks 44th in the FIFA rankings, that is, only six places higher than Qatar, so the Ecuadorian coach, Gustavo Alfaro, knows that his team is not well equipped to impose a tangible presence, but he expects It is his players to make things difficult for their opponents in the group.

“The World Cup is very different from the qualifiers,” says Alvaro.

If we are going to play the way we did the qualifiers, we will probably not have a chance, because we will be playing against the Asian champions, the African champions, and the Netherlands, who reached the semi-finals of the European Cup.

And he adds, “They are teams that are superior to what we are, and this is the reason that we were in the fourth pot in the draw. If we were the best, we would be in the first or second pot.

We have to make things difficult, we have to be an obstacle.”

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