Qatar fans head for exits at HALF TIME leaving thousands of empty seats in shambolic World Cup opener defeat to Ecuador
MANY Qatar fans left their World Cup opener at half-time after a shambolic performance against Ecaudor.
The Al Bayt Stadium emptied early with the host nation down 0-2 after the opening 45 minutes.
Qatar were picked apart by Ecaudor with Enner Valencia netting twice after seeing another strike disallowed for a close offside.
The host nation’s goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb put in a nightmare display giving away a penalty and was unconvincing throughout.
It was meant to be a big day for Qatar after the opening ceremony kicked off with a performance from BTS pop star Jung Kook and a narration from actor Morgan Freeman.
However the game did not live up to the hype as Ecuador took control early and Qatar rarely threatened.
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It led to plenty of home fans choosing they had seen enough as thousands of empty seats appeared during the second half.
Huge pockets of the stadium lacking fans began to form with one claiming the amount leaving was in the over 10,000.
It comes after getting to the ground became a nightmare for many supporters.
It has been reported that it was gridlocked outside the Al Bayt Stadium and cars barely moved for hours.
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SunSport understand that the traffic jam was caused by cars being stopped to allow VIP’s early access to the stadium creating a backlog of traffic.
Fans online criticised the Qatari fans saying: “Weird how putting the World Cup in a country that doesn’t care about football might lead to a bunch of empty seats.”
Another commented: “All the empty seats in the stadium for the host country’s first match. Sham World Cup.“
Qatar play Senegal on Friday and finish the group stage against the Netherlands – it’s worth keeping an eye on whether people head home early again.