In the first match of the World Cup, Qatar's hosts unexpectedly lost to Ecuador with a score of 0-2, thus breaking the curse of the host team's first loss in the history of the World Cup. As the best of Asian soccer, facing the South American powerhouse Ecuador, Qatar was unable to get anything out of the game, and the whole game was like a nightmare, a total rout.
For a Chinese soccer fan, witnessing Qatar's debut at the World Cup is reminiscent of the Chinese soccer team at the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. At that time, China's first opponent was the United States against Costa Rica, also losing 0-2. In comparison, the spirit of the Chinese national soccer team was clearly better than that of today's Qatar team.
This performance by the Qatar team has undoubtedly been a wake-up call for other Asian countries, especially the Chinese men's soccer team. First of all, the investment of funds is not a panacea. In order to prepare for this World Cup, Qatar can be said to be "ten years to sharpen a sword". Many core players in the team since childhood into the Aspire youth training base, such as Ali Afif and others, they since the age of 10 years old has joined the elite soccer training program. To attract talent, the Qatar Football Association has even launched a global selection mechanism. Ali is from Sudan. Despite the Qatar Football Association's huge investment, they are still struggling against South American teams. The national team has also tried to bring in naturalized players, but the results were not satisfactory.
Secondly, long-term intensive training is not a good idea. At this year's World Cup, all of Qatar's players are from their national leagues, including 13 homegrown players and six Duhailers. In order to prepare for the World Cup, these international players left their respective teams in April and began months of early training. However, judging by the performance in the first match, the long training period did not bring the expected results. Qatar's internationals clearly failed to find the rhythm of the game.
After losing their opening match against Ecuador, Qatar will next face Senegal and the Netherlands. Good luck to the Asian champions.
