Qatar coach blasts team after losing World Cup opener

The 2022 World Cup hosts slumped to a 2-0 defeat to Ecuador at Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday.

Qatar manager Felix Sanchez has branded his side’s 2-0 opening day defeat to Ecuador in the World Cup as a ‘terrible start’.

The 46-year-old Spaniard offered no excuses for the performance after a first-half double from Ecuador forward Enner Valencia saw Qatar become the first home nation to lose the opening match of a World Cup.

However, while some unimpressed home fans left the Al Bayt Stadium early in the second half, Sanchez felt his team was ‘backed and supported’.

“Truth be told, I have enough work to do to take a look at it,” the Qatar manager said.

“We felt backed and supported and we hope for the next game, people will feel prouder and keep supporting us to the end of the tournament.

“The atmosphere was great, people were very much looking forward to this game.”

“We knew [a loss] could happen and the result can sometimes be difficult. We will try to learn from today and I’m completely sure we will make people feel happier with our performance.”

On Qatar’s performance, Sanchez added: “There’s no excuse. We want to congratulate our opponents, they deserved to win. There is a lot of room for improvement. Maybe the responsibility and nerves got the best of us. We didn’t start well. It was a terrible start.”

Qatar return to action on Friday to take on Senegal in their second Group A match.