Qatar have entered the World Cup's history book following Sunday night's defeat to Ecuador in the first game of the 2022 edition. The Maroons suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor to become the first host nation to lose their first game since the inception of the competition.

Following a a colorful 30-minute opening ceremony, the night's main event began with VAR overruling a goal by Enner Valencia inside the first three minutes. However, the skipper of the South America side was able to find the back of the net with a penalty just 10 minutes after the incident. He subsequently doubled the lead to two with a header in the 31st minute before his substitution in the second half. 

5 - Enner #Valencia has scored each of Ecuador's last five goals at the #FIFAWorldCup - the record is held by Eusébio (Portugal 1966), Paolo Rossi (Italy 1982) and Oleg Salenko (Russia 1994) who scored six in a row of their nation. Centre. pic.twitter.com/F15hp6LOVg

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) November 20, 2022

Enner Valencia's contribution meant that a player has had a brace in the opening game of the World Cup since 2014. He joins Neymar and Denis Cheryshev in that regard, with the duo scoring twice against Croatia and Saudi Arabia in 2014 and 2018 respectively. 

Qatar will now look to bounce back against Senegal in Group A on Friday, while Ecuador takes on the Netherlands on the same day.