After 12 years of preparation, the World Cup has begun with the opening ceremonies beginning on Sunday at Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium. Ecuador dealt Qatar a 2-0 defeat in the opening match.
A star-studded cast of entertainers and singers performed during the 30-minute ceremony, which was narrated by Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman.
Among the performers were K-pop sensation Jungkook of the South Korean supergroup BTS and Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi.
Over the stadium, which is about 44 kilometres (27 miles) north of Doha, Qatar’s capital, fireworks lit up the night sky.
Unity and inclusion were the main points of the ceremony.
As he greeted the world to Doha, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani told the crowd, “Let this tournament be full of inspiring days of goodness and hope.”
To witness the opening ceremonies and the first World Cup match to be played in the Middle East, fans packed cafés in Erbil, Iraq, pubs in Istanbul, Turkey, and a sports hall in Gaza City to watch the event.
Some people were hopeful that the spotlight could dispel stereotypes because everyone was looking at Qatar, a tiny country with a lot of energy.
Rasul Farid, 26, spoke to Al Jazeera in a café in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, saying, “I did not expect that one day an Arab country would host the World Cup.”
“It’s a good thing that the World Cup will be held in an Arab nation because it will break stereotypes about us and give us a different impression.I’m here to help Qatar’s team.
In its first World Cup match, Qatar failed to impress, falling 2-0 to an energetic Ecuador led by Enner Valencia, who scored two goals without reply on a penalty kick and a header.
After a long-distance free-kick attempt by Pervis Estupinan at half-field, referees called back what appeared to be the match’s first goal just three minutes in. Valencia of Ecuador’s header bounced off the net.
The video assistant referee (VAR) ultimately disallowed the goal.
Valencia later slipped his most memorable objective past Qatari goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb on an extra shot 15 minutes into the match. After that, just before the end of the first half, he scored with a header from a cross just outside the box.
In the second half, Qatar controlled possession the most. Nonetheless, the host group attempted to benefit from any short lived energy they had assembled, neglecting to land any of their five shots on objective all through the match.
The loss was significant because it marked the first time a host team had lost the opening match of a World Cup. Qatar now faces a difficult challenge in Group A.
Everything up until the game was fantastic.However, that performance was very poor,” a Qatar supporter told Al Jazeera after the match.
Reuters and the Associated Press reported that tens of thousands of fans packed the FIFA fan festival in Al Bidda Park, causing chaotic scenes elsewhere in Doha.
The scene, which has a limit of 40,000 individuals, was overpowered by no less than two times that number and police at last needed to shepherd great many rankled spreads out of the holding region between the primary celebration park and the border entrance.
A fan who was holding a child who was three years old told Reuters that “they let too many people in.”
I was relieved to leave because “we never made it into the main area.”
Inside, raucous fans in their national colors waved flags and waited in line to pay $14 for a glass of beer, with a maximum of four per person.
Emil Larsen, a Danish supporter, stated to the Associated Press, “So far it’s been nice people, nice weather, and nice everything.”
“And it’s been hard to find something to drink, you know, like a beer. But so far, so good.”
