Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui offered no excuses after his side were thrashed 6-0 by co-hosts Canada and had two men sent off in their World Cup Group B match on Thursday.
After picking up their first World Cup point in a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their opener, the Qataris were two goals down inside the opening half-hour in Vancouver as Jonathan David bagged a hat-trick to put Canada on top of Group B with four points after two matches. Qatar are bottom with one point.
Aggression and carelessness then saw Qatar hit with two red cards, one for a foul by Homam al-Amin and the second for a tackle by Assim Madibo that left Canada midfielder Ismael Kone with a suspected broken leg.
"I have two options," Lopetegui told a news conference. "One is to start talking here about the referee or the things that happened, or I can put the focus on the only thing that is under my control, (which) is to recover my players, to tell them that they made a big effort, despite all the circumstances, and to be able to face in the best way possible the last group match."
The 59-year-old Spaniard said that there was no ill intent behind Madibo's tackle on Kone and that he wished the Canada midfielder all the best for his recovery, adding that he had to focus on their final group game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"When we drew against Switzerland, I was not in the sky, I was balanced. And today, too, I have to analyse the match to take the right decisions for the next match, to be able to recover the players as soon as possible," Lopetegui said.
There were confrontations between the coaches, staff and players of the two sides after Kone's injury, and again at the final whistle, but Lopetegui declined to go into the details of what sparked them. "I have my point of view about this, but I am not going to talk about this, because each one has to be responsible about his facts," he said.
"It is not good to finish in this way for all the football players, for all the staff, and I think that we have to avoid this moment. We are here today, a tough day, suffering a lot, but we are here. The day before against Switzerland (we were) making history, and now we have one final in front of us that, despite the day today, we won the right to play this match."
Roared on by a vocal red-and-white crowd, Canada came out all guns blazing. Cyle Larin repaid coach Jesse Marsch's faith in the 16th minute, reacting quickest after goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada saved David's effort to give the hosts the lead.
Larin, who scored off the bench in Canada's 1-1 draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been handed a start alongside David, the country's all-time leading goalscorer. Canada doubled their advantage 13 minutes later, David meeting a cross with a powerful volley and the match swung completely in Canada's favour when Qatar were reduced to 10 men.
A penalty was initially awarded for al-Amin's foul on Tajon Buchanan, but a VAR review ruled the offence occurred outside the area. The decision was downgraded to a free kick, but El Amin's yellow card was upgraded to a red. David added his second just before halftime, bundling home from close range after Abunada had saved Larin's header, leaving Qatar with a mountain to climb
Kone sustained his injury following a tackle by Madibo and was carried off on a stretcher, but the 24-year-old was later seen sitting up and waving to the crowd, his left leg in a large inflatable protective boot. Tempers and emotions spilled over following the incident and Madibo was shown a red card to reduce Qatar to nine men.
Substitute Nathan Saliba, who replaced Kone, added the fourth by whipping in a free kick before running to the sideline and holding up Kone's shirt in tribute to him. Things went from bad to worse for Qatar as midfielder Mohammad Mannai turned the ball into his own net before David completed his hat-trick in stoppage time to compound a miserable night for the visitors.
Qatar next face Bosnia and Herzegovina in Seattle on Wednesday, June 24.
