World Cup: Why Olunga Was Trolled After Qatar Loss To Ecuador

Michael Olunga who is the current Harambee Stars captain unexpectedly found himself in the middle of a trolling festival that intensified after the Qatar national team lost 2-0 to Ecuador in the opening game of the FIFA World Cup.

A brace from Enner Valencia ensured that the South Americans bagged their first win in the tournament at the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday, November 20. The Fenerbahçe forward could have had a hat-trick in the one-sided encounter, but his earlier goal was ruled out for offside in revolutionary circumstances by new technology implemented in the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

Despite Kenya not taking part in the highly-anticipated 22nd edition, Olunga was suddenly thrust into the limelight on social media following his exploits in the Qatar Stars League for Al Duhail SC.

In particular, a tweet posted on Sunday, September 11 by pioneer Genge artiste Paul Nunda popularly known as Juacali mocked Olunga as he bagged a hat trick for his team in a 3-0 victory against Qatar Sporting Club. 

Buda unacheza na mafala ???????????????????????????????????? https://t.co/YdFdjFVBLL — JuaCali (@juacaliGenge) September 11, 2022

"Buda, unacheza na mafala (you're playing with amateurs)," he tweeted, followed by several laughing emojis and a video of Olunga scoring a hat trick on Saturday, September 10.

The post was revived by Kenyans On Twitter (KOT) who confessed to the Ngeli ya Genge hitmaker how right he was, given that Qatar were completely outplayed, registering no shot on target.

"Even with their bag load of problems, Harambee Stars are much better than this Qatari team. Give the Stars just proper three months of intense training [and allowances] and they'll cruise past the Qataris with their billions. No wonder Olunga is scoring hat tricks every day," wrote Kipkogei Agui.

"Our very own Harambee Stars can get all three points from this Qatar team that’s been training since 2006," Jackson Ngari weighed in. 

Last season, the 28-year-old Harambee Stars captain emerged as the top scorer in the league after notching 24 goals from 20 matches. So far in this campaign, the former Gor Mahia star has scored five league goals from seven appearances.

Moreover, Olunga is currently leading the domestic cup goal scorers chart with 10 goals, which comes with two hat-tricks against Al-Markhiya and Al Arabi. He also scored in four straight matches in the competition.

Records Qatar Broke At Once

Qatar's defeat to Ecuador was the first time in 92 years a hosting nation has ever lost in the opening game of the tournament. Every country that has hosted the World Cup in the past century including South Africa either won or registered a draw in their first match.

Of the 22 nations that have hosted the World Cup in the past, six of them registered a draw while 16 emerged victorious in their opening matches. 

Qatar became the first hosting country since the 1994 edition held in the United States of America (USA) to fail to register a single shot on target in the entire game.  

The Qataris World Cup journey gets even tougher as they have to face Senegal and Netherlands in their next two group matches.

The two favourites of Group A take on each other on Monday, November 21 at 7 pm Kenyan time, with all eyes on how the 2022 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) champions will react to the miss of Sadio Mane due to an injury.

Qatar players dejected after their loss to Ecuador in the 2022 FIFA World Cup on November 20, 2022. /TWITTER