Qatar 2022: Why was Ecuador's World Cup opening goal ruled out by VAR?

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar certainly got underway in dramatic fashion.With the referee blowing the first whistle while the countdown for kick-off was still only at '4', it was clear from the very start that Qatar vs Ecuador was just waiting to burst into life.So much so, in fact, that Ecuador looked to have delivered one of the earliest goals that a World Cup finals had ever seen when Enner Valencia headed home amid goalkeeping chaos.

What happened with Valencia's disallowed goal?

Saad Al Sheeb was all over the shop from the moment that the ball was pumped into the host's penalty area, sparking confusion that culminated in Valencia finding the back of the net.

Having been something of a cult hero at the 2014 tournament, Valencia seemed to have picked up from where he left off by sparking jubilant celebrations amongst the South Americans.

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However, there was a problem, because the watching eyes of VAR had spotted an offside and ruled that Valencia's strike would have to be chalked off.

Only, at first, nobody could work out where on earth the offside had come from with the television broadcast doing little to elucidate what had actually happened - check it out for yourself:

Video: Confusion as fans work out why Ecuador were offside

Any guesses? Because Qatar's goalkeeper had come so far out of his goal, had he then altered the usual arrangement of the second-to-last-man rule? Anyone?

Absolute confusion amongst football fans

Why was Ecuador's goal ruled out by VAR?

Well, in the end, the answer did pull through with the thousands upon thousands of baffled fans watching from home finally receiving a graphic that broke down exactly what had happened.

Some of the fancy new VAR imagery that Premier League fans are perhaps only used to in European competitions decisively showed that Michael Estrada's foot was in an offside position.

So, the correct VAR decision was indeed made, but the Qatari officials would certainly have preferred for the opening few minutes of their tournament not to have been saturated with such confusion and bewilderment.

You would, after all, have hoped that the relevant broadcasting tools and graphics would have been primed and ready to avoid any such initial outrage on the biggest footballing stage of all.

Ecuador celebrate their disallowed goal.

Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group A - Qatar v Ecuador - Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar - November 20, 2022 Ecuador's Enner Valencia celebrates scoring a goal that was later disallowed REUTERS/Molly Darlington

How did Ecuador take the lead?

Either way, though, justice was eventually served in the form of a penalty as barely 10 minutes later, Al Sheeb's nightmare continued as he brought down Valencia in the box.

And the former West Ham United striker was in no mood to be denied twice, converting the spot-kick in ice-cold fashion for an opening goal to the World Cup that VAR simply couldn't touch.

Video: Valencia converts an ice-cold penalty for Ecuador

In fact, things got even worse for the host nation before the first-half was over as Valencia found the back of the net once again with a superb header that could well have marked the most remarkable of hat-tricks had it transpired in the pre-VAR age.

Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Group A - Qatar v Ecuador - Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar - November 20, 2022 Ecuador's Enner Valencia celebrates scoring their second goal REUTERS/Matthew Childs

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call a chaotic start to a World Cup tournament.

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