World Cup 2022 Open Watch Thread: Day 1

Well, here we are, folks. After everything that has gone on since our old buddy Sepp Blatter opened the envelope and awarded the first-ever World Cup to a Middle East Country and, most recently, Gianni Infantino gave a train wreck of an opening press conference, the world’s biggest sporting event is set to begin in Qatar.

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Opening night for the 2022 World Cup is here.

The controversial hosts Qatar — yes, it’s happening, everybody — will face Ecuador, who themselves have had some interesting moments leading up to the start of the tournament. These two countries, each with storylines surrounding them for different kinds of reasons, will be the two to open this World Cup — one that is very much under the microscope for a whole lot of different things we’ll be talking about over the course of the next four or five weeks.

This will be our first chance to see what a game at a World Cup in Qatar will be like.

Just what the atmosphere in the stadium will be like will certainly be something to pay attention to.

Seeing as it’s an opener between two nations that are not tipped to do much in the tournament, who knows just what kind of quality there will be right off the bat.

And, since it’s being held in Qatar, who knows what kind of drama there may be going on in the stands or outside the stadium in the lead up to kickoff at the Al Bayt Stadium.

No matter what, though, this thing is a go. Really, really.

It’s happening. A midseason World Cup is really happening. Let’s see if we can get through the first day of the tournament — one where there is ONE game — without any injuries. That would be nice considering there have been a handful of very important injuries happen without any games actually taking place.

MATCH INFO

Who: Qatar vs. Ecuador

When: Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022.

Where: Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar.

Official kickoff time: 7 p.m. local time in Qatar; 5 p.m. across continental Europe, 4 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 11 a.m. Eastern time, 8 a.m. Pacific time.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Fox Sports 1, Telemundo, (United States); TSN1, TSN4, RDS, CTV (Canada); BBC One (United Kingdom); RAI Uno (Italy).

Online/Streaming: Sling TV, Foxsports.com, Fox Sports app, Peacock, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (United States); TSN.ca, TSN app, RDS app, CTV app (Canada); BBC Sport Web, BBC iPlayer (United Kingdom); RAI Play (Italy).

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.