ECUADOR did enough in a one-sided first half to be able to take their foot off the gas somewhat in the second stanza as they shut out the host nation 2-0 on Sunday in the first of 64 games on the 2022 World Cup agenda.

Enner Valencia, playing for the second time at the top level of international football, bagged two goals in the first 45 minutes and had another ruled marginally offside soon after the opening whistle.

If fans in the stadium were impressed by the opening ceremony, they were less impressed with Qatar’s sluggish start that saw them mercilessly pinned down in their own territory.

Slack marking and the inability to deal with anything in the air was evident from the outset, with Saad Alsheeb in goal the chief culprit, and Ecuador were taking full advantage.

Too slow in coming off his line, and with his defence in disarray, Alsheeb brought down Ecuador danger man Valencia in the 14th minute and was lucky to see yellow rather than red.

Valencia dusted himself off and calmly slotted the spot kick into the right corner with Alsheeb going the wrong way (1-0).

It was one-way traffic and no surprise when an unmarked Valencia climbed high to head home a cross on the halfway mark for his brace (2-0) midway through the stanza.

The big striker caused a scare when he went down late in the half with a knee injury but he was able to continue.

With the break looming, Qatar for the first time began stringing together a few passing movements, and Almoez Ali almost got his head to a super cross in the dying embers of the half.

They continued to show slight improvement when the teams returned to the pitch but were soon under renewed pressure and Alsheeb somewhat redeemed himself with a good one-on-one save from Ibarra.

The game meandered for most of the half, with Ecuador content to protect their lead, upping the gears whenever they needed to.

However, it was Pedro Miguel who headed just wide for Qatar on the hour mark.

Sadly, Valencia was forced to hobble off with 15 minutes to go without the chance of nailing his hat trick.

Mohammed Muntari lashed a super strike from the edge of the box as he got on the end of a long ball but it whistled over the Ecuadorian crossbar for the last chance of the game.

No goals in the second half but three points and a clean sheet for the Central Americans will do just fine, thank you.

But whether it was down to their excellence or the inadequacies of the hosts remains to be seen, with the Netherlands and Senegal lying in wait.