The host Qatar national team are on the verge of being eliminated from the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Friday after suffering a second successive defeat, this time against Senegal 1-3, in Group A competitions.
The fate of ‘Al-Annabi’ will be decided later today, when the Netherlands play Ecuador in the same group, and therefore any draw or ‘orange’ win will exclude the Qataris from their first World Cup participation.
Boulay Dia (41), Famara Diedio (48) and Bamba Dieng (84) scored Senegal’s goals, while the first goal for Qatar in World Cup history went to Mohamed Muntari (78).
Next Tuesday Qatar will play the third and final round against the Dutch national team.
Qatar became the fifth host country to lose two games in a row, after Spain (1982), the United States (1994), South Korea (2002) and Brazil (2014).
Qatar’s substitute top scorer Muntari told BN Sports: “Feelings are mixed. When you score your nation’s first goal at the World Cup you are lucky, but we lost and I don’t like losing.”
On the reasons for the Qatar team’s failure in the first two matches, he replied: “Lack of experience. This is the first participation, but we will keep the positive aspects.”
As for midfielder Mohamed Waad, he apologised: “I don’t know what to say. Maybe my fellow players and I should apologize to the fans for the rest of my life. We hope to compensate in the next tournaments. I apologize from the youngest to the elder”.
On the other hand, Senegal, which is contesting the finals without its star Sadio Mane, this year’s best African player and second best player in the world through injury, has rekindled its hopes of reaching the second round, where a match awaits him against Ecuador in the last round.
Senegal narrowly lost to the Netherlands in their opening match with two goals scored late in the game.
Qatar’s Spanish coach Felix Sanchez dropped goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb from the starting lineup due to his poor performance in the first match, and replaced him with Mishaal Barshim, younger brother of world champion and Olympic gold medalist Moataz high jump.
Al-Sheib’s performance was shaky in the debut match against Ecuador (0-2) and caused the penalty that came from Ener Valencia’s first goal.
Sanchez also made two further adjustments, bringing in Ismail Mohamed and Asim Madibo, in place of Bassam Al-Rawi (knee injury) and Abdel Aziz Hatem.
The start of the Qatari team was rather cautious, for fear of receiving an early goal which would have complicated things.
The Senegalese control was clear, but without danger, before Qatar’s first loose shot by Al Sadd’s star Akram Afif (16′).
Kriban Diata responded directly with a powerful ball, which was blocked by the Qatar goalkeeper and sent for a corner, then a creeping shot by Idrissa Guy, which went into Barshim’s right post (22).
In the most serious Qatari attack, Al-Moez Ali exchanged the ball with Afif, then the latter scored the Senegalese’s goal, and before paying Ismail, he entered the area without the referee awarding a penalty kick (33 ).
Qatar defender Boualem Khoukhi made a mistake in distracting a cross from Diata, so Boulay Dia snatched it from him and kicked it into the net from close range (41).
And at the beginning of the second half, the events of the Qatari team get complicated when Diedio takes advantage of a corner kick, then raises his head towards the ball and deposits it in the net (48′).
Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy saved his goal from a sure goal when he blocked Ismail Mohamed’s header from 3 meters away (67).
The Qataris managed to close the gap thanks to substitute Muntari, who came on for four minutes, replacing captain Hassan Al-Haydos, with a powerful header that hit the net (78′).
But the last word went to Senegal, who added through substitute Bamba Dieng III six minutes before the end of regular time, taking advantage of a cross (84).
Interestingly, Senegal have kept the net clean once in 10 matches in World Cup finals, and that was when they pulled off a sensational win over France 1-0 in the 2002 World Cup opener, when this last was the champion of the previous version on its soil and Senegal participated for the first time.
