The first match and the Qatar world cup opening ceremony were held on Sunday with Ecuador playing the host Qatar. Ecuador showed a fantastic display of football against a struggling host whose team committed many mistakes in the opening match.
The match showed that some football fans were still disgruntled about the banning of beer and other alcoholic drinks at the World Cup. Qatar’s beer ban has generated a lot of controversies, with many in support of the ban and others against it.
During the game, the Ecuadorian fans could be heard shouting, “we want beer” at the stadium to the utmost annoyance of the hosts.
In his recent press broadcast before the World Cup, the FIFA president told football fans coming to the world cup that they should respect the host country’s laws.
Even before the kick-off, it has been speculated that the Qatar World Cup 2022 would come with a lot of restrictions due to the host country’s rules. It has generated so much controversy as football fans from Europe, and some other continents are accustomed to having a beer while watching football matches.
Although FIFA has an official partnership with Budweiser, it has decided that football fans will only get access to non-alcoholic beverages during each world cup match.
Fans’ Reaction to the Qatar Beer Ban
Obviously, football fans are very disappointed with the Qatar beer ban placed on the World Cup. The recent show of disappointment at the opening match shows that FIFA should expect more protests of the bans during matches.
A video posted on Twitter showed the side where Ecuador fans were busy chanting that they wanted a beer at the World Cup.
In the video, the Ecuador fans could be heard chanting “Queremos Cerveza,” which roughly translates to “We Want Beer.”
According to the person that posted the video on Twitter, Sam Street, Qatar Airways-sponsored Fox Sports, tried to twist the narrative about what happened.
They claimed that Fox Sports said the Ecuador Fans were chanting “si se Puede,” which roughly translates to “yes, we can.”
Apparently, Fox Sports wanted to twist the events, but native Ecuador citizens on Twitter said that their fans were shouting, “we want beer”.
Fans have reacted to the latest video, with some hailing Ecuador fans for speaking up and others urging them to respect the rules.
A Twitter user with the user name, Its Green said, “please respect the host, its laws, its religion, and its customs.”
Another Twitter user with the user name bl_xiii said, “The rich people still get to drink alcohol in their stadium suites. Qatar doesn’t respect their own laws, and customs, or religion.”
Ecuador Magnificent Display at the World Cup Opening Game
With Ecuador trashing them 2 to nil, Qatar made a terrible history — Qatar became the first host country at the World Cup to lose their opening game.
Ecuador controlled the game by having 53% possession over Qatar, who had 47% possession. The Qatar World Cup was a disaster for the hosts as they had no shot on target and about four yellow cards.
The game even had some controversial moments when the referee gave an offside during the game’s early moments. A VAR check showed that the Ecuador scorer was offside — however, football fans who weren’t aware of the rule were furious.
But their disappointment stopped after Ecuador scored another two goals to make Qatar lose ground in qualifying for the Word Cup knockout stage.
The host country’s fans could be captured leaving the stadium, as many were disappointed at how their team played.