Qatar’s World Cup journey as a team officially ended with Friday’s defeat to Senegal. Yet they’ll still be good hosts until the final in mid-December. Alex Grimm/Getty Images
AL THUMAMA, Qatar — After Friday’s defeat, Qatar are one game away, and one more bad performance away, from winning the unwanted prize for worst World Cup host ever. To be fair, they are already statistically, anyway: other results in Group A mean that they have suffered the earliest exit by a host nation in World Cup history.
Last Sunday’s 2-0 loss against Ecuador in the opening game of the tournament was bad, but one could understand there being nerves and pressure of being at home for their first ever appearance at this level. Yet Friday’s 3-1 defeat to Senegal at Al Thumama Stadium was equally as bad and this time, there were no such excuses.
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