Ecuador fan taunts Qatar by waving ‘fake cash’ during World Cup opener but then backtracks
An Ecuador supporter who taunted Qatar by waving fake cash during his nation’s 2-0 victory over the hosts in their World Cup opener has backtracked on his antics – claiming passion “makes people upset”. La Tri fanatic Peter was among the South American fans inside the Al Bayt Stadium in Doha for the first match of the tournament and he was keen to make his feelings known from the stands, even if it upset the locals.
Viral footage showed the Ecuador fan rising to his feet from his seat and waving fake cash to various sections of the stadium.
Donning his nation jersey with ‘Monge 13’ on the back – the passionate supporter is now afraid of receiving some verbal abuse.
He later sits in the clip down after being told to do so by some of the Qatar supporters that are seated within the same proximity as the Ecuador fan.
A row then ignited between a Qatar supporter and Peter, who turned around to confront some of the people shouting at him from a few rows back.
In fresh footage, the Qatar fan that engaged in the spat – telling the Ecuadorian to “sit down and shut up” – cleared up the altercation in a heart-warming clip.
“This is Peter, he is an Ecuadorian, he is here to watch the match today,” the Qatari said in the video, while sat next to the South American.
“In the end, we are all here to watch this beautiful game.”
Peter then responds: “Yes, yes. Vamos Ecuador! We’ve got passion that sometimes makes people upset.
“But we come together for sport, sport brings people together.
“We are very friendly with each other, I wish Qatar the best. And it’s a beautiful World Cup so far, I love it.”
To which the Qatari responded: “Of course, we wish Ecuador the best too.”
Unfortunately on the field, Qatar became the first-ever host nation to lose the opening match of the World Cup as they fell to a 2-0 defeat.
There was controversy from the get-go when Enner Valencia’s fifth-minute opener was ruled out for offside – a call that would later prove to be the correct decision despite fierce online criticism.
It didn’t matter too much though as Valencia did finally get his goal when he was brought down for a penalty by Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb, who was then beaten by the resulting spot-kick.
Former West Ham and Everton striker Valencia then headed home a second for Ecuador to put them top of Group A before eventually limping off with a knee injury in the second half.
Ecuador have now kept seven consecutive clean sheets – the longest run in their entire history.
