The match between Qatar and Ecuador takes place at 23:00 on November 20. This is the first match of the 2022 World Cup. The host team Qatar is ranked 50th in the world, 6 places behind their opponent. However, according to former coaches of Binh Duong and Dong Thap teams - Mr. Doan Minh Xuong, the Qatari team has a great chance to continue.
In this group A, the Netherlands is too strong so they will take a place to continue. The other great thing is the competition between Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal. With a similar strength and level, I hope the Qatari team will be the Asian team that achieves good results at the 2022 World Cup.
Regarding the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador, I think this match will take place with an attractive attacking double, with many goals scored. I have watched Qatar since the 2019 Asian Cup, where they won. To prepare for the 2022 World Cup, the Qatar Football Federation has prepared the national team a lot longer and more elaborately, from the establishment of the Aspire academy to train young players, recruit naturalized players, to sending teams to Europe, South America to compete, train... Along with the home field advantage and meeting a match-able opponent like Ecuador, I think Qatar will win.
The Qatari team is participating in the World Cup for the first time, while Ecuador is participating in the world's number 1 tournament for the fourth time. However, Mr. Xuong still appreciated the home team's opportunity.
The overall level of South American teams is still higher than Asia, Ecuador's experience is also better. However, the difference between Qatar and Ecuador is not much. Compared to other teams, Ecuador also does not have big stars who can make breakthroughs. Therefore, I am still leaning towards the winning result for Qatar, especially when they play at home and have prepared very carefully.
With the goal of achieving good results at home, Qatar has allowed the national team to concentrate and play friendly matches for the past 8 months. Since March 2022, the World Cup host team has played 21 friendly matches. In the last two matches in November, Qatar won Panama 2-1 and Albania 1-0 respectively.
4 years ago, U23 Vietnam beat U23 Qatar in the 2018 U23 Asian Semi-finals. The current Qatari squad has many players who have played for U23 Vietnam. Current Qatar coach - Felix Sanchez also led the U23 Qatar team in the past.
U23 Qatar lost to U23 Vietnam in 2018, but 4 years have passed, I think the level of the current Qatari team has been greatly improved. They have improved remarkably. In addition to being in a fairly favorable group, I expect to be able to create a miracle for Asian football, as Korea did at the 2002 World Cup, said Mr. Xuong.
According to this strategist, striker Almoez Ali - who has scored 42 goals in 85 appearances for the national team - will be the biggest hope of the Qatari team, to score against Ecuador. In addition, the home team also has many other experienced players such as Akram Afif, Hassan Al- Haydos, Karim Boudiaf...
