Qatar vs. Senegal Prediction: 2022 World Cup Betting Odds

Al Thumama Stadium receives these two teams, each desperate to start making a mark in their World Cup journeys

Soccer savants favour African nation Senegal as they are -174 on the World Cup odds. The over-under is predicted to be 2.25 goals scored.

Qatar vs. Senegal Betting Analysis

Much like the tournament’s opening game, Qatar has never encountered Senegal at any international competition or friendly.

As previously discussed, Senegal doesn’t have a long-standing history at the World Cup seeing as they’ve only been present in 2002 and 2018. If we look at the second of their three group-stage matches (two in total), they drew both. A more prescient statistic is how they’ve recovered from defeats over the past 12 months. They lost four times in various competitions since last November and picked themselves up with victories every time immediately afterwards.  They also get shut out very rarely (in a loss or goalless draw), so they’ll be hungry to score against Qatar.

As for the hosts, again, nothing to mention as far as second-match World Cup history is concerned. As for streaks since 2021, the squad has successfully bounced with relative expediency following a loss, the lone exception being when they fell to the Croatia U23 and Canadian national squads back-to-back this past autumn. On the flip side, they course-corrected against vulnerable opponents (Albania and Bulgaria). Senegal will be a new challenge for them.

Qatar

It goes without saying that the opening match didn’t go according to plan. Then again, it’s difficult to imagine anyone other than Qataris really believing this ensemble was going to turn heads at this competition.

The match against Ecuador, a 2-0 defeat, wasn’t a disaster. If anything, the hosts mostly held the fort during a goalless second half. It was precisely the opening 45 minutes during which the side’s deficiencies and perhaps nervousness showed. Right from the get-go, Ecuador was all over them, creating plenty of decent chances in the box. In fact, while the final score was only 2-0, it was very close to being 3-0 as Enner Valencia’s opening header was cancelled when VAR determined a teammate who sent the ball in was a foot offside. For what it’s worth, Qatar seemed to be comfortable attacking from the left flank, so perhaps that’s something to build on.

Senegal

The Lions of Terenga sorely missed forward Sadio Mané, who is still nursing a leg injury. It wasn’t that the unit had no attacking prowess when they fell to the Dutch 2-0. Rather, it was they lacked proper finishing.  They outshot the Netherlands 14 to 8 and had just as many hits on target (3). Ismaïla Sarr was a regular threat from inside and outside the box. Dutch keeper Noppert was forced to remain alert all night, even though he didn’t need to make too many actual saves.

Advancing with the ball was smooth for the most part and the direction from which the blitzing took place varied. Both the left and right flanks were attacked and, unlike less talented sides, they were able to build plays with passes in the middle of the pitch and not just a series of off-target bombs behind the line. Qatar might be the best medicine to open their Cup tally.

World Cup Prediction: Who Will Win Qatar vs. Senegal?

Qatar 0-2 Senegal