International Football
Can Qatar sustain World Cup hosts’ opening match tradition?
A World Cup like no other one kicks off this Sunday as Qatar hosts Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium. It is a departure from the past as it is the first ever World Cup in Arab world and also the first one to hold outside the traditional June-July calendar.
Qatar have also become the first host country debatants since that of Italy in 1934.
With the World Cup entering its 22nd edition, no host country has ever lost the opening match. Sixteen past host nations have won their matches while the other six, including South Africa in 2010.
Will Qatar sustain the tradition? The events at the sumptuous Al Bayt Stadium will offer answers.
The last time a host country failed to score in the opening match was in 1970 when Mexico played 0-0 with the then Soviet Union.
Going into the World Cup as hosts, Qatar won all three of their group stage matches at the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 this time last year.
But they have a mountain to climb in Ecuador who are no strangers in the World Cup. They had featured thrice before in the World Cup and are facing an Asian country for the first time ever.
But outside the World Cup frame, both Qatar and Ecuador had met three times in the past. Both won a game apiece and drew one.
At their last meeting four years ago, Qatar triumphed 4-3 in the friendly match. But Ecuador have lost only one of their 15 international matches, five of which were won while nine ended in draw.
Enner Valencia scored all of Ecuador’s three goals on their last FIFA World Cup appearance in 2014. He is their joint top-scorer at the tournament with Agustín Delgado, who scored two goals in 2006 and one in 2002
Qatar team facts
FIFA World Cup team records
Overall record: No previous match
Ecuador team facts
FIFA World Cup team records
- Overall record: P: 10 Win: 4; Draw: 1; Lost: 5; Goals For: 10; Goals Against : 11 Biggest win: 3-0 Ecuador vs Costa Rica (15/06/2006)
- Biggest defeat: 0-3 Ecuador vs Germany (20/06/2006)
- Highest scoring draw: 0-0 Ecuador vs France (25/06/2014)
- Highest scoring match: 3 goals – 5 times
- Most goals scored in a match: 3 goals – Ecuador 3-0 Costa Rica (15/06/2006)
- Most goals conceded in a match: 3 goals – Ecuador 0-3 Germany (20/06/2006)
- Most goals scored at a FIFA World Cup: 5 – 2006 (4 matches)
- Fewest goals scored at a FIFA World Cup: 2 – 2002 (2 matches)
- Most goals conceded at a FIFA World Cup: 4 – 2006 (4 matches), 2002 (3 matches)
- Fewest goals conceded at a FIFA World Cup: 3 – 2014 (3 matches)
FIFA World Cup streaks
- Successive wins: 3 (2002-2006)
- Successive defeats: 3 (2006-2014)
- Successive draws: 1 (2014-ongoing)
- Successive matches without a defeat: 3 (2002-2006)
- Successive matches without a win: 3 (2006-2014)
- Successive matches with a goal scored: 4 (2002-2006)
- Successive matches without scoring: 2 (2006)
- Successive clean sheets: 3 (2002-2006)
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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