Perhaps no other team in the tournament is coming into the World Cup surrounded in more controversy than Ecuador. The South American side’s qualification came under scrutiny after the nationality of certain players was questioned mainly by the Chilean football federation, and some coaches from the same country. The whole ordeal seemed overly petty, and it’s a shame that FIFA even entertained some of the Chilean claims. In any case Ecuador is headed to the World Cup, how much of a chance do they have to advance to the next round in group A?
Ecuador As A Team Has Played Rather Well In The Last Few Months
Ecuador was one of the surprises of the CONMEBOL qualifying round. They gave both Brazil, and Argentina fits, something that virtually no other squad was able to do throughout the qualifying. They’ve shown that they are a well-rounded team on defense that’s going to fight for control of the midfield at all times as well. There’s an argument to be made that teams like Colombia and Chile who will be staying home to watch the World Cup have more offensive talent. They just weren’t able to find that defensive stability that Ecuador seems to have down perfectly.
In one of their most recent games against Japan they went to a 4-5-1 instead of the 4-3-3 that they played with throughout most of the qualifying. That 4-5-1 formation really allows them to neutralize teams that have more offensive speed, they may need that against Senegal, and the Netherlands even, in the group. There is a bit of a concern that they aren’t finding the back of the net so easily as of late. That’s a real issue that we’re not sure that they’re going to be able to necessarily fix, because of this next topic that we’re going to cover.
Some Of Their Stars Are Not Finding Consistency At The Club Level
It’s not that Ecuador on paper is lacking offensive talent per se. The biggest issue may very well be that most of their offensive pieces are either past their prime, or not getting enough minutes at the club level. In some cases it’s actually both of those issues combined. Angel Mena who was once the MVP of Liga MX with Leon is having a hard time staying healthy, and on the field. Micheal Estrada has scored goals at Cruz Azul, but he’s clearly the second option at number 9 for the squad.
Enner Valencia for his part, has had a really tough time even seeing the field in Turkey. Romario Ibarra has been “important” for Pachuca in the last few months since the arrival of Memo Almada. This season, though, he’s only played in half of the team’s games. Some of these guys literally won’t see the field in active competition until Ecuador plays in the inaugural World Cup game against Qatar on November 20th. That’s certainly concerning for head coach Gustavo Alfaro.
Projected Finish In The Group
This is potentially one of the hardest groups to call. We’re going to go with conventional wisdom and say that the Netherlands should take the top spot in the group. From there it’s really wide open. Qatar isn’t as bad as some people may be led to believe. Senegal for their part could mount a mean counter-attack. Ecuador may though be able to find better balance, what worries us is that many of their top players aren’t coming into the tournament in the best shape. Also, Qatar may get some help from the refs. With that in mind we wouldn’t be surprised if Ecuador are knocked out in the group stage!
