Qatar became the first team to be knocked out of the World Cup after a humbling defeat at the hands of Senegal and Ecuador’s draw with the Netherlands, but the host team’s fans inside a half-full Al-Thumama stadium had at least some consolation: they got to see a goal.
Senegal were far from impressive but still had too much for their hapless opponents who have made a strong case for the title of worst home nation of all time. For the Africa Cup of Nations champions, meanwhile, this was a shot in the arm and gives hope of qualification from Group A .
What this all means for Qatar, as with so many issues off the field during this tournament, is difficult to discern. Once again the coach, Félix Sánchez, saw his team play in front of a crowd that largely gave up, a patchy attendance falling away in the second half. If this indicated disappointment among local support, however, the Spaniard did not see it that way.
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“We are very happy with today’s attendance and very proud of the fans who came to show their love throughout the game,” Sánchez said. “Today we showed what we are able to do: we were competitive and beyond the result we played well. You need to know where we’re coming from. If you think [being eliminated] is a failure, then that depends on expectations.”
The consensus among local media appeared to be that this was a stronger performance from Qatar than against Ecuador, but if so then the margins were fine. While the forward Akram Afif continued to do his best to create some kind of cutting edge for his team, most of his colleagues were not on the same wavelength, and a misplaced pass or hashed clearance was never far away. It was a reflection of the uncertainty in Senegal’s play that this game was not decided much earlier.
After the Teranga Lions’ opening defeat by the Netherlands, Aliou Cissé changed his formation and a more assertive 4-4-2 paid dividends as both strikers got on the scoresheet. Boulaye Dia seized upon a terrible Qatar error – the defender Boualem Khoukhi not only scuffing a clearance but falling on to his behind in the bargain – to fire home with four minutes of the first half remaining. Famara Diédhiou doubled the lead shortly after half-time with a well-executed looping header.
“When you want to score goals maybe you need to increase the number of forwards,” Cissé observed wryly afterwards, and he will hope the three points will help restore confidence among a squad not only rocked by their late defeat on Monday but by the enduring absence of their talisman, Sadio Mané.
“This is not the end of the road; our objective is to get out of the group stages and we know what needs to be done,” Cissé said, with Ecuador their final group opponents on Tuesday. “We need to win, we need to perform like we did today. The result today has given meaning to everything we’ve done and we will savour the result, even though we have to face the next game.”
His upbeat remarks appeared to be good management from Cissé but the coach will surely feel there is more to come from his team in terms of approach play, and he was frustrated with the way with which – at 2-0 – they lost focus to let Qatar back in the game.
Édouard Mendy, the villain of the piece against the Netherlands, had to be at his athletic best to deny first Almoez Ali from distance and then Ismaeel Mohammad from point-blank range (an attempted header that came off the wing-back’s knee). With 12 minutes remaining, the Chelsea man was helpless as the substitute Mohammed Muntari rose from a standing start to nod home Mohammad’s impressive swirling cross.
The crowd got up for the goal, and cheered loudly enough, but it was not sufficient to drown out the Senegal drumming band whose unceasing rhythm drove the atmosphere in the stadium throughout. Senegal restored their two-goal advantage with six minutes of normal time remaining as Bamba Dieng swept home a cutback from Iliman Ndiaye after impressive approach play from the Sheffield United man. Small steps for Senegal here, but they are still in the tournament and Cissé, asked whether an African team could win this thing, replied simply: “Yes.”
