Qatar - Ecuador Match Report
Embed from Getty Images Ecuador's players celebrate after scoring In the first game of the most controversial World Cup in history, a game that was itself controversially moved forwards by a day only 3 months before the start of the tournament, Ecuador produced a dominant display against tournament hosts Qatar. Ecuador led within the first 5 minutes via an Enner Valencia header off of a set play but this goal was disallowed due to an initially hard to spot offside. However, the goal was shown to be clearly offside thanks to the help of the Semi Automated Offside Technology which recently debuted in the UEFA Champions League. Valencia has been in fine form for Fenerbahçe this season and has 13 goals and 4 assists in only 12 Süper Lig games, already beating his highest ever goal tally for the Turkish giants. The story of the first half was Valencia, who became the first Ecuadorian to score 4 goals in a World Cup Finals in the 19th minute when he calmly slotted his penalt...