After a calamitous arrival into Al Bayt Stadium – first-night jitters and all that – and an opening ceremony orchestrated by Morgan Freeman, and ignored by the BBC, the Ecuadorians began to sing.
And sing and sing, into the alcohol-free night.
When the clump of yellow shirts behind the Al Daayen-end goal turned to their drums, the World Cup party exploded, with goals by Enner Valencia leaving the Qatari upper crust slumped in their seats.
Come the start of the second half, many of the locals in the 67,372 crowd had departed.
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Qatar is adamantly a football nation, but in their first World Cup game, on home soil, curiously only a few hundred seemed to be enjoying themselves, and that looked highly choreographed, in comparison to the rhythmic South Americans.
Initially, the locals took a leaf out of the Laois GAA song book – chanting “Qatar-Qatar-Qatar!” – but this was quickly matched by fervent Ecuadorians bringing a much-needed injection of World Cup nostalgia.
It was not quite Giants Stadium or Turin, but try telling that to the Ecuadorians. Scandalously, the loudspeakers drowned them out with outdated house music and mind-numbingly, Coldplay.
On the hour mark, as the game settled into irrelevancy, the Ecuadorians launched a Mexican wave but the sheikhs refused to play ball.
This occasion belongs to Valencia, a 33-year-old veteran who would have claimed a hat-trick only for VAR erasing his third-minute header for an earlier offside. But Ecuador sensed the gulf in quality, bagging two goals in 31 minutes, the second from a penalty when Saad Al-Sheeb – a complete liability in the Qatar goal – pulled down the former West Ham striker.
At two-nil, the game was over and Ecuador sat back, controlled the tempo and steeled themselves for the Netherlands on Friday.
The preamble to this World Cup has been like covering a golf Major. Almost everything happens inside the spacious Convention Centre, west of the capital. Press conferences galore, this secure environment comes with a helping hand at every turn, so an excursion to Al Bayt was a genuine adventure.
The multicultural media army journeyed north of Doha, passing architectural wonders (the other stadiums) on a desert motorway until a gargantuan Bedouin tent appeared in the distance.
“The Arab Cup was here last year,” said Mohamed, my Tunisian colleague, “wait until you see the inside of this place”.
The bus stalled as a cavalcade whizzed past, presumably Emir Sheikh Tamim and his entourage, before our trip resumed, going several miles beyond the stadium, before looping back around through the largely derelict village of Tinbak, into a paved car park surrounded by sand.
Everyone exhaled – in Arabic, English, Dutch, Danish and Spanish – presuming that the circuitous route was all part of the experience.
Right?
“Inshallah.”
A police car pulled alongside the bus and suddenly we were moving away from the stadium again.
“I don’t understand what is happening,” said Mohamed, my companion, who took to Facebook for answers.
Eventually, the driver rediscovered the Al Khor coastal road and motored towards the stadium.
An opening-night hiccup is understandable as, technologically speaking, the tournament exists deep in the 21st century, even if the opinion of an earlier Uber driver, from Pakistan, showed how divergent the cultural differences remain between western society and the Middle East.
“Mr Fifa was right to say what he said about European culture,” went Mr Uber. “This is a country of rules and one of the rules is no alcohol.”
We point out the issue is not Qatari law but Fifa reneging on an eye-popping sponsorship deal with Budweiser, after all the beer had been shipped into the country. His response is pure Infantino, pure whataboutism.
“Ireland, eh, where you legalised lesbianism? Rules are important in Qatar and the region. That’s why I am moving to Saudi Arabia to oversee a construction project.” An initially friendly conversation about vast cultural differences descended into a lecture about the US “and the CIA” using 9/11 to cause mayhem in the region for the “past 20 years”.
We decided to stick to the football.
Back on the media shuttle, the stadium became visible, only to disappear from view, and at the fifth police checkpoint, a beret wearing Ecuadorian journalist approached the driver to offer his assistance. In Spanish. Babel ensued.
But the football is taking over at this World Cup. Doha comes alive Monday as England play Iran, Wales face the USA and the Dutch grapple with African Nations Cup champions Senegal, minus the injured Sadio Mané.
“I am not longer going to speak about political issues,” said Dutch manager Louis van Gaal, who previously branded it “bulls**t, ridiculous” to award the tournament to a tiny Gulf state. “I believe we can become world champions.”
