On the field and off it, Qatar's World Cup is up - but not yet running - Irish Examiner
Gianni Infantino and Qatar promised us a World Cup unlike any other. With the clock on 55 minutes at Al Bayt Stadium, they'd already delivered — we got to see an arena become a white elephant in real time.
A conservative estimate would say that 25 per cent of the crowd who had packed in for the tournament's opening night hadn't bothered to hang around for the second half. By the time the attendance of 67,732 was announced 15 minutes later the place had emptied by another 25 per cent. 
It was startling, stark.
There was if not mitigation, some explanation: the host nation had been pathetic, pulled asunder by Ecuador and unable to piece together anything approaching tournament-level football themselves. It was 2-0, and stayed as much, but it may as well have been five. There was also the traffic. The bloody traffic.
Al Khor is the northernmost venue in this World Cup which is basically a single-city tournament, six of the eight stadiums within Doha's limits. It's 40km to the north with mostly barren desert between the two and always seemed a bizarre place to construct the second-biggest of the new stadiums. At an estimated $850m, Al Bayt is one of the more expensive in sporting history too. You'd think that somewhere along the way they'd have thought about how to get people here.
As the spiralling highways encircling the place turned into the priciest car park on the planet a full three hours before kickoff, a poor FIFA shuttle bus driver was hopelessly lost as he ferried 80-odd of the world's media up the road. Some locals in their pristine white Thobe robes opted to just start walking along the side of the dusty highway.
What will become of this place? That's apparently all but decided already. The top tier will be removed, a hotel and mall will be put in the vacated space and the arena will be reduced to 32,000. They could probably plough ahead and lop off another tier while they're at it.
From the middle, very VIP tier, the only place that you could get your hand on a drink, Infantino had perched himself and watched an opening ceremony with little expense spared either. On his right was the Emir. On his left Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Some took it as a sign of thawing tensions between two regional powers. But perhaps when it comes time for the announcement of the 2030 World Cup host, we will look back at those seating arrangements again.
Morgan Freeman and one seventh of K-Pop sensations BTS were the headline acts of the ceremony, which felt very much like a pitch for an Olympic Games some day, should the IOC be as pliant on their definition of summer as FIFA were. But from high up in the stands it was the sight of all of the previous mascots running out on the field that caught us somewhere. A poignant memory of more conventional and classic editions of this grand old show. Some were of course tainted too. And the World Cup should of course have come to the Middle East and the Arab world. But not like this. Not at this cost.
After 12 years of that real human, ethical and environmental cost ticking up as fast as the financials, we were almost ready for some actual football. But not before someone, who must have been offline for all of Saturday, handed Infantino a microphone. He kept it brief, thankfully.
Then we were really off, Italian referee Daniele Orsato most eager of all, blowing his whistle with the stadium countdown clock still on five. Maybe the hosts were caught on the hop by those four or five seconds because they were finished before they ever got going. Saad Al-Sheeb had played 80 international between his country's posts before this night. He'd likely give them all up if he could lump this one in with them. It was a disaster.
He was rescued by the most marginal of VAR calls just three minutes in when he'd come flying and got nothing but air, Enner Valencia's bundled header chalked off. No matter. More calamity was en route. It had found the only fast lane in Al Khor.
Valencia was fouled by Al-Sheeb 13 minutes later and outsmarted the sorry keeper with a classy penalty. It got worse, the only surprise that it took another 15 minutes for the second. Valencia was again canny enough to make hay in the fertile green land vacated by Qatari defenders, burying a brilliant header into the corner.
Ecuador were busy and industrious but could have been operating at about 75 per cent for all we know. Qatar were an absolute rabble. Towards the interval, El Tri were happy to concede a little territory and some possession too, perhaps just to see what Qatar could do with it. The answer was precious nothing. Out of nowhere, they found one hell of an opening. The five minutes of added time all but elapsed, Hassan Alhaydos curled in a beautiful ball and Almoez Ali, the nation's most potent finisher with 41 international goals, arrived at the front post unmarked and headed wide. A shocker.
Felix Sanchez's side had been the busiest team in international football this year, busy building cohesion and confidence in extended European camps while their homeland continued its preparations and took all of the pre-tournament focus. Was this pure stage fright? Twelve years of being told a huge moment is coming hanging much too heavily once it arrived?
Perhaps we'll find out on Friday when they face Senegal. But clearly the home fans had made up their minds as they headed out into the desert darkness early and often. By the closing minutes Qatar fans were outnumbered by a yellow block of elated Ecuadorians who chanted 'Queremos cerveza' — 'we want beer'. They weren't alone in that regard.
On the field and off it, Qatar's World Cup is up. It's not yet running in either respect. We move on to Monday and hopefully better days and, at the very least, lingering crowds.
Saad Al-Sheeb 2; Pedro Miguel 4, Boualem Khoukhi 3, Bassam Hisham 3, Abdelkarim Hassan 4, Homam Ahmed 3; Abdulaziz Hatem 4, Hassan Alhaydos 5 (Waad), Karim Boudiaf 4; Akram Afif 5, Almoez Ali 3 (Muntari).
Al-Sheeb, Ali, Boudiaf, Afif.
Galindez 7; A Preciado 7, Torres 7, Hincapie 7, Estupinan 8; Plata 7, Mendez 8, Caicedo 8 (Franco 90), Ibarra 7 (Sarmiento 69, 7); Valencia 9 (Cifuentes 77), Estrada 7 (Rodriguez 90).
Caicedo, Mendez.
Valencia (16 pen, 31) Referee: D Orsato (ITA) 8.
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On the field and off it, Qatar's World Cup is up - but not yet running - Irish Examiner
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