Disastrous outing for Qatar as Canada record 6-0 victory
Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong for Qatar as Julen Lopetegui’s side suffered a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of co-hosts Canada in their FIFA World Cup 2026 Group B clash in Vancouver.
A first-half brace from Jonathan David followed Cyle Larin’s opener as Qatar went into the half-time break three goals and a man down. Mohammed Manai’s own goal followed Nathan-Dylan Saliba’s free-kick, while David found his third of the day to round off the 6-0 drubbing in the second half. Qatar finished with only nine players after red cards to Homam Al-Amin and Assim Madibo, which had left them clueless in the face of a relentless Canadian attack.
What initially seemed like a promising start, against the backdrop of the draw against Switzerland, soon turned sour as Mahmoud Abunada failed to control David’s shot in the 16th minute, only for the ball to perfectly fall for Larin to tap home.
Coming off a frustrating-yet-encouraging draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the opener, Canada then soon doubled their lead through David, who rifled in via a deflected effort on the half-hour mark. It soon turned worse as the referee overturned a penalty decision to a free-kick outside the box, only to send off Homam.
Jesse Marsh’s side then capitalized on the advantage, with David doubling his tally in added time ahead of the break. Lopetegui, in the other dugout, had already brought in Sultan Al-Brake, hoping to fill the gap left by Homam’s dismissal, at the expense of Yusuf Abdurisag, who had retained his spot in the starting eleven left unchanged from the opener.
Qatar made two further changes at the start of the second half as Ahmed Fathi and Mohamed Manai came on for Edmilson and Jassem Gaber respectively, both of whom had struggled to find form in the first forty-five.
If the tournament opener was a glimpse into the ability that Lopetegui had sought to instil in the side, of staying in a game against superior opponents, the story in Vancouver mirrored everything that had faltered throughout Qatar’s qualifying campaign.
After all, when it rains, it pours for this defence. It was Assim Madibo, the illustrious midfielder who had been left in the middle on his own for the most part, who had his moment of despair. Canada’s Ismael Kone was stretchered off the pitch in tears after a horrible injury, and a visibly distraught Madibo was also shown a red card following a VAR review. Scuffles broke out between the two dugouts over the incident and the consequences that followed.
Nathan-Dylan Saliba soon held Kone’s shirt aloft after picking out the bottom corner via a free-kick to make it four on the night for Marsh’s side, which had BC Place Vancouver pulsating.
The fifth for the men in red came in the form of an own goal, as Manai’s failed clearance ended up in Qatar’s net, before the one-way traffic yielded another for Canada. In added time again, David got his third of the night, his celebrations muted in the face of the drubbing that the contest had become.
For Qatar, the clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina is now almost certainly the ultimate one in the campaign. It now looks increasingly difficult for a reeling side to avenge and finish the campaign on a satisfactory note, and the bar could have now shrunk to at least controlling the damage so that the 2022 campaign at home remains the worst yet, at least in terms of memories associated.
