Soccer-Qatar fans lambast team after second World Cup defeat
Disappointed Qatar fans criticised their team after a second successive defeat eliminated the hosts from the World Cup on Friday when Ecuador’s draw with Netherlands ensured that they could not progress. Qatar lost the opening game of the tournament 2-0 to Ecuador on Sunday, and though their performance was better on Friday they were still on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline against Senegal that left them needing a miracle to make the last 16.
They needed Ecuador to beat the Dutch to keep their hopes alive, and though they came back from a goal down to secure a 1-1 draw, the Ecuadoreans could not score the winner their hosts so desperately wanted to see, and they duly crashed out. “We expected way more from this team, they played a match that was below standards, not as if it was a World Cup game. We wanted to at least enjoy it. It was absolutely shameful,” Qatar fan Emam Abdulrahman told Reuters outside the Al Thumama Stadium after the Senegal game, but before Ecuador played Netherlands.
“We excused them in the opening match, we said they were stressed as it was the World Cup, and the whole world was there. But today, they disappointed us more than necessary,” she added. Wearing a maroon Qatar scarf over his traditional white thobe tunic, Abdulrahman Almeri echoed those sentiments.
“It’s a shame, after 12 years of preparation with all the local people and the Arab people waiting, and in the end, the performance was below average, and you don’t even feel that the players had a sense of responsibility,” he said. “There was no pressure, no spirit. I don’t know what the problem is exactly. I cannot even say tough luck, because we don’t know when we will participate in another World Cup.”
Khalid Al Fayad went one step further, proudly wearing a Qatar shirt over his thobe, but he couldn’t hide his disappointment. “It is very unfortunate because it’s been 12 years in the making, of waiting, people have thought that this is the team that can make history. And I can understand the disappointment in a lot of people, and I join them on that too,” he said.
Qatar face Netherlands in their final Group A game at the Al Bayt Stadium on Tuesday.
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