An opening day to forget for 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar has been perfectly summed up by the emergence of a head-turning statistic online.
The latest edition of world football’s most prestigious international tournament was of course kicked into gear a short time ago.
The first fixture of the competition played out in Group A, and saw hosts Qatar, as is customary, play their part.
The Middle Eastern outfit were tasked with a meeting with CONMEBOL side Ecuador, amid an air of widespread excitement across the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor.
Upon the final whistle bringing a close to proceedings on Sunday evening, though, safe to say that all associated with Qatar were brought firmly back down to earth.
This came as a hugely underwhelming showing culminated in Felix Sanchez’s troops being put to the sword by two goals to nil, owing to a brace from former West Ham and Everton striker Enner Valencia:
And, in the process, Ecuador’s captain condemned Qatar to the wrong side of an all-time World Cup benchmark.
As confirmed in the aftermath of tonight’s clash, the Qataris have become the first hosts in the storied history of the biggest tournament in sport to fall to defeat in their opening fixture:
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