Qatar vs Ecuador Prediction, Lineups, Results & Betting Tips

Qatar vs Ecuador Stats    

• The hosts of the World Cup have never lost the opening game
• Qatar are undefeated across their last five outings
• Ecuador have registered the most corners in seven of their previous eight matches

Qatar vs Ecuador Betting Tips

Betting Tip: Qatar Draw No Bet

The highly-controversial 2022 World Cup gets underway on Sunday as hosts Qatar face off against Ecuador at the Al Bayt Stadium. This is Qatar’s first ever appearance in the biggest international tournament on the planet and they’ll be hoping that they can avoid being the first hosts to ever lose an opening World Cup match.

Qatar boss Félix Sánchez has overseen his side take part in numerous friendlies and they enter this clash have gone unbeaten in all of their last five outings which started with an impressive and hard-earned 2-2 draw against South Americans Chile.

A draw wouldn’t be a surprise considering the stalemate specialists are involved here. Ecuador have been involved in four 0-0 draws across their last five outings, with the other seeing just a single goal. It doesn’t look as though this will be a high-scoring affair and a single goal could be all it takes to decide this one.

Qatar’s attack is likely to be spearheaded by Ali and Akram Afif. They’re both capable of hitting the back of the net and with a fierce home crowd lapping up every moment of a first World Cup match, they can continue a trend of going unbeaten in the opener as hosts. I’ll back them in the draw no bet market meaning we get our stake back if it ends all square.

Betting Tip: Ecuador Most Corners

Both of these two sides are predominantly defensive-minded and it looks extremely likely that this could turn into a chess match with one defining moment potentially being the decider.

With this in mind, I like the look of a prop play and in particular, Ecuador to register more corners than Qatar. La Tri have successfully seen more corners than seven of their last eight opponents and they will be up against it here.

They’ll still look to dominate proceedings but are likely to find more joy down either flank and as a side that likes to pepper the box with crosses, I like the look of Gustavo Alfaro’s men racking up the corner count, particularly if they fall behind.

This market is a best price of 5/6 and that looks a good price given how the match could pan out and how frequently it has landed for Ecuador in their recent games. I’ll take it for a point.