Qatar 0-2 Ecuador: Enner Valencia steals the Qatar 2022 opener

caused a lot of controversies, from concerns about migrated workers and LGBTQ+ to the fact it's the first World Cup held in winter for Qatar's heat.

hosted Ecuador in the tournament's opener as it was the fourth time the two sides met, with all matches taking place in Qatar. The South American side had one draw, a loss, and a draw from their previous visits as they were highlighting Qatar’s first-ever World Cup match.

Ecuador started dominating from the first minute with 

seemingly scoring the game's opener in the 3rd minute which was ruled out for offside by VAR. However, Valencia continued his spectacular performance to score the tournament's first goal in the 16th minute from the penalty kick he himself earned.

The South Americans had the most possession as Valencia doubled Ecuador's lead in the 32nd minute, spectacularly heading in Preciado's cross. Qatar failed to turn things around in the first half as two sides headed to the dressing room at half-time with a 2-0 victory for

. Qatad had most of the posession of the second. However, they failed to lower their opponents lead as they ended their first-ever World Cup match as a defeat.

Follow 

 for the