The 2022 World Cup has finally kicked off and the talk of corruption and match fixing has continued on the opening day of the tournament, as Ecuador saw an early goal bizarrely disallowed on Sunday thanks to VAR.
Enner Valencia thought he had scored the first goal of the Qatar World Cup on Sunday, as after just five minutes the former Everton and West Ham man had the ball in the back of the Qatar net thanks to quick reactions and a sharp finish from close range.
The Ecuador striker saw his goal ruled out however, with a contentious VAR decision disallowing what would have been the opening goal of the tournament.
Here’s how the football world reacted to the baffling decision on social media:
OMG….Tournament in question already…..No way is that ever a VAR review
— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) November 20, 2022
The offside call released by VAR. pic.twitter.com/ibdL5opzhw
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 20, 2022
Now I got it. The player who assists Valencia benefits from an offside position pic.twitter.com/6SSyiQeS2q
— Siavoush Fallahi (@SiavoushF) November 20, 2022
“Now disallow the goal for offside” pic.twitter.com/90OJwgBp3l
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) November 20, 2022
Fans came to a collective agreement on Social media that the goal was right to be disallowed by VAR, however looked perfectly acceptable in real time.
Despite the early disallowed goal Ecuador and Valencia cruised to victory against the hosts in the opener, with the former Premier League star scoring both goals in the first half to seal a 2-0 win for Ecuador and send them top of Group A after the first day.
Qatar is the first host nation in World Cup HISTORY to lose their opening match 😳 pic.twitter.com/hoOPl8upSb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 20, 2022
Ecuador will now look to their second game where they face the much more daunting prospect of Group A favourites in the Netherlands, while Qatar take on Senegal in a must win game for the hosts should they want to stand any hope of staying in the competition.
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