Next disappointment for the hosts?
It’s happened: For the first time, a host has lost its opening match at a World Cup. This has a slight impact on the bookmakers’ ratings for the Qatar vs. Senegal tip, as the Africans are now quite clear favourites.
Before the tournament started, it was still a little unclear how the hosts would perform and how high their actual performance would be. The first match was sobering, so the Qatar vs. Senegal forecast does not look particularly rosy for the Emirate. A point win would be a surprise.
The pressure is now on Qatar. That could suit Senegal, even though coach Aliou Cissé’s team also lost their opener. The match kicks off on Friday at 2 p.m.
Qatar – Statistics & current form
It was supposed to be a football festival, the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador. However, it turned out to be the opposite, on and off the pitch. The World Cup hosts did not perform well against the opponents they were most likely to beat. Half-empty stands after 55 minutes also sent a signal that the Emirate wanted to avoid. And so the Qatari national team is already under a lot of pressure on the second matchday of the group stage and actually has to win.
Coach Felix Sanchez Bas could not be satisfied with what his team offered. Qatar became the first World Cup hosts to lose their opening match and, depending on how things go, could become the second host ever to miss out on the knockout stage on the second matchday. That has only ever happened to South Africa in 2010, and the team lacked pretty much everything football-wise against Ecuador.
There was not much of the Spanish style that the Spanish coach has established. Qatar were inaccurate, offensively harmless and vulnerable under pressure – despite having a five-man backline. That is a bad mixture. After three games without defeat, the result at the start was already a clear damper. And there is not much that can be done in the few days until the second match.
Qatar: Fighting against harmlessness
Now, in the second game, the aim is to combat the harmlessness. Significantly, Ecuador’s goalkeeper did not have to hold a Qatari shot on goal in the first group match. The only dangerous shots, and there were not many, missed the goal.
After such a long preparation period, it was disappointing that so little worked. Perhaps the opponents, who tended not to be among the upper echelons of the world’s elite, were simply too weak to prepare Qatar for the seriousness of the tournament.
Qatar have only lost twice in the 2022 calendar year, but the opponents against whom positive results were achieved were Bulgaria, Guatemala and Albania. Canada and Ecuador both lost 2-0, and looking at the statistics for the year, it is clear that the attack is crippled. Eight games were played and eight goals were scored. That is clearly too few.
And so the bookmakers also agree that the hosts now face a tough task. Against this background, our prediction ahead of the match between Qatar and Senegal is that the Africans will win this match.
Predicted Qatar line-up:
Al-Sheeb – Pedro Miguel, Al-Rawi, Khoukhi, Hassan, Ahmed – Waad, Hatem, Al-Haydos – Afif, Muntari
Last matches played by Qatar:
World Cup Group A
20/11/2022 – Qatar 0 – 2 Ecuador
Friendlies
10/11/2022 – Albania 0 – 1 Qatar
06/11/2022 – Qatar 2 – 1 Panama
27/10/2022 – Qatar 1 – 0 Honduras
23/10/2022 – Qatar 2 – 0 Guatemala
Senegal – Statistics & current form
Senegal also lost their first World Cup match 2-0, and before the tournament Sadio Mané was already out due to injury. Nevertheless, the mood could hardly be more different compared to Qatar, as Aliou Cissé was satisfied with what his team delivered on the first matchday. They held off the Netherlands for a long time, and until the final stages, the Africans were not very far from a point.
The team played in a relatively disciplined manner, defended well and had their chances. A little more precision would have been an advantage, and it was also clear that the options from the bench did not provide a big quality boost. But the first eleven should be enough to win against Qatar. Moreover, Senegal had already played against the Group A favourites at this World Cup.
The statistics of the shots taken also show how good the start was. Senegal shot 15 times at the Dutch goal, only once did the team have a better record at a World Cup. So the direction is right, and now they have to show their class.
Senegal: Defence is a factor
The defence is a factor for the Senegalese. This team does not concede too many goals at present, eight in total in the calendar year, but it is a different story at World Cups. Here, Senegal have conceded at least one goal in eight consecutive matches.
So a lot will come down to balance. Individually, of course, Senegal has advantages, and the bookmakers see the Africans as clear favourites, but inviting the World Cup hosts to counterattack would also send the wrong signal. Due to Senegal’s undoubted class, our value tip before the match between Qatar and Senegal is that the Africans will score a start-finish victory and defeat Qatar.
Predicted line-up of Senegal:
Mendy – Sabaly, Koulibaly, Cissé, Diallo – Kouyaté, Gueye, P. Sarr – Diatta, I. Sarr, Dia
Last matches played by Senegal:
WM Group A
21/11/2022 – Senegal 0 – 2 Netherlands
Friendlies
27/09/2022 – Senegal 1 – 1 Iran
24/09/2022 – Bolivia 0 – 2 Senegal
African Nations Championship Qualification
02/09/2022 – Guinea (3)1 – 0(5) Senegal
27/08/2022 – Senegal 1 – 0 Guinea
Qatar – Senegal Direct comparison / H2H balance
These two national teams are facing each other for the first time, there is no direct comparison data.
Qatar – Senegal Tip
The pressure ahead of this match is clearly on Qatar. The hosts must try to avoid elimination. That will not be easy, as the team goes into the encounter with Senegal as underdogs, who have shown good approaches and are also better individually than the hosts.
What Qatar showed in the opening match is not nearly enough to be competitive. Therefore, before the match Qatar vs. Senegal, our tip is that the Senegalese will win the match.
