Qatar head coach Felix Sanchez says his side felt “backed and supported” despite a mass exodus from fans during a 2-0 defeat to Ecuador in their first ever World Cup match.
Enner Valencia spoiled the party with a first-half double in the opening match of the tournament at Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday.
Valencia also had an early goal contentiously disallowed by the VAR for offside, but Qatar were well beaten and failed to register a shot on target in a lacklustre display.
They become the first home nation to lose the opening match of a World Cup, and many members of the crowd were clearly not impressed as they made an early exit in the second half.
Sanchez is focused on trying to made Qatar more competitive rather than bemoaning fans not sticking with their side, with Group A encounters against the Netherlands and Senegal to come.
“Truth be told, I have enough work to do to take a look at it,” the Spaniard said.
⏱ Ecuador take the points in our first game at #Qatar2022! @adidasfootball | #FIFAWorldCup
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 20, 2022
“We felt backed and supported and we hope for the next game, people will feel prouder and keep supporting us to the end of the tournament.
“The atmosphere was great, people were very much looking forward to this game.”
“We knew [a loss] could happen and the result can sometimes be difficult. We will try to learn from today and I’m completely sure we will make people feel more happy with our performance.”
Qatar never got going and Sanchez offered no excuses for such a flat performance.
“There’s no excuse, we want to congratulate our opponents, they deserved to win,” he added.
“There is a lot of room for improvement. Maybe the responsibility and nerves got the best of us. We didn’t start well. It was a terrible start.”