After losing their second group match, which puts the World Cup hosts on the verge of elimination from the competition, Qatar's head coach Felix Sanchez argued that his team shouldn't be characterised as a "failure and disappointment."
Goals from Boulaye Dia, Famara Diedhiou and Bamba Dieng helped Senegal register a convincing 3-1 win over host Qatar in the Group A match being played at Al Thumama Stadium. Mohammed Muntari scored the lone goal for the host and became the first goal-scorer for the country.
"I do think we played a good game. When you come here you need to know where you're coming from. If this is a failure and disappointment, that depends on expectations," Skysports quoted Sanchez as saying.
"Our goal was to be competitive... We've been working for so many months to be able to give a good performance. But sometimes the match does not play out as you expect. It also depends on the opponents' performance. We didn't play at our top level. We were competitive but didn't improve," he added.
"We are aware of how tough this competition is. We wanted to go far but we know we had limitations as a country. It's a small country, not a very large population. The local league is not a very competitive one," Sanchez added.
Coming to the match, Senegal also enjoyed more possession having 55 per cent of it in comparison to Qatar which had only 45. The African side also had five shots on target in comparison to Qatar who had three.
In the fourth minute, Senegal's Ismaila Sarr right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right was close but misses to the right. Eleven minutes later Qatar's Akram Afif's right-footed shot from outside the box went above the goal post.
In the 20th minute, Qatar player Ismaeel Mohammad was shown a yellow card for a bad foul. Four minutes later Krepin Diatta's assist helped Idrissa Gueye strike a right-footed shot from outside the box but the attempt went wide.
Qatar's yet another attempt went high when Abdelkarim Hassan left footed shot from outside the box went high. In the 30th minute, Edouard Mendy's assist helped Senegal Ismaila Sarr take a right-footed shot from outside the box but was saved in the bottom left corner.
In the 41st minute, Boulaye Dia's right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner helped Senegal take a 1-0 lead which they maintained going into half-time.
In the second half too Senegal looked more convincing scoring a goal in the 48th minute. Mohammed Muntari pulled one goal back for Qatar by scoring in the 78th minute. Assisted by Ismaeel Mohammad with a cross Muntari's header from the centre of the box went on to hit the bottom of the left corner. Muntari became the first goal-scorer for his country in the FIFA World Cup. His goal made the fans erupt in joy.
But the joy of home fans was short-lived as six minutes later Bamba Dieng once again restored a two-goal lead for Senegal. The West African maintained this lead right till the end and sealed the match 3-1 in their favour.
( With inputs from ANI )
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