Fans fume at farcical start to World Cup as VAR rescues Qatar

After years of controversy in the lead-up to the tournament in Qatar, there was immediate contention in the opening game.

Enner Valencia was ruled off-side before scoring with his head. Picture: SBS

Football fans mocked the start of the Qatar World Cup after the referee kicked off the game before the end of the stadium countdown.

Hosts Qatar faced off against Ecuador in the first match of the tournament on Sunday evening, shortly after the opening ceremony.

And moments before play got underway, a voice came over the Al Bayt Stadium as fans prepared to count down the beginning of the match from 10 to one.

But when it reached four, the referee decided enough was enough and opted to blow for the game to start.

Three minutes later there was more controversy.

Ecuador thought they had taken the lead through Enner Valencia, only for the goal to be ruled out for off-side.

The former West Ham man thought he’d scored but VAR cut short his celebrations by deeming him to be off-side when floundering keeper Saad Al Sheeb came rushing out to try and clear the ball.

Fans in the stadium and across the globe were left stunned by the decision to rule out Valencia’s header.

Offside??????? pic.twitter.com/wRGxFHmgOT

— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) November 20, 2022

Genuinely stunning there has been a VAR overrule in favour of Qatar inside 10 minutes.

We got one replay on stadium press screen, no lines. Seemed very dubious live.#WorldCup

— Laurie Whitwell (@lauriewhitwell) November 20, 2022

Boy, I’m shocked that was called back.

What a horrendous start to this tournament. As suspect as it gets. Jaysus. 🤨

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 20, 2022

That’ll silence the critics who said this World Cup was corrupt…

— Jay Motty (@JayMotty) November 20, 2022

I reckon Ecuador will score four or five goals in this game and it will end 1-1

— Frankie Boyle Updates (@frankieboyle) November 20, 2022

Valencia was off-side as there was only one defender behind Al Sheeb after he raced out to try and punch the ball clear.

The Ecuadorean, however, didn’t have to wait long to get his name back on the scoresheet.

Valencia was awarded a penalty in the 15th minute after being up-ended by Al Sheeb as he went through on goal.

The striker made no mistake from the spot, cooly slotting the ball past the despairing Al Sheeb.

And the 33-year-old doubled his and Ecuador’s tally just after the half-hour mark with a header to give the South Americans a 2-0 lead.

Enner Valencia first goal was disallowed by VAR. (Photo by Mohamed Farag/Getty Images)

They would hold the advantage through a scoreless second half to make a great start to the tournament and leave the hosts in disarray.

Qatar became the first host nation to lose the World Cup opener in the 92-year history of the tournament.

This article was originally published by The Sun and reproduced with permission