The Ecuadorian national team player is not prepared to play with a line of three defenders, remarks Walter Ayoví

World Cup player Walter Ayoví Corozo said he believed that the Ecuadorian national team player is not psyched to play in line with three defenders, and suggested that to cover the absences of the suspended Pervis Estupiñán and Diego Palacios on the left-back, Christian Cruz “ I would do very well ”in the match that Ecuador and Venezuela will play this Thursday, in Quito, for the thirteenth date of the South American qualifier for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

“We are one step away from qualifying for the World Cup. It is up to each of the players and coaching staff to be able to achieve the goal, Ecuador deserves to classify for each effort. I’m very surprised by every new face I see and how good they look, ”Ayoví, 42, said in an interview with the program. Sports pulse of the digital channel Wuan Plus.

The former tri-color and World Cup team in South Korea and Japan-2002 and Brazil-2014 pointed out that the team led by coach Gustavo Alfaro, playing at home, “is doing quite well, the players have understood well the idea of ​​DT ”.

But Ayoví analyzed that in the squad “there was a lot of confusion” when Alfaro experimented with playing with a line of three in the background the matches against Paraguay in Quito (2-0 win), Uruguay in Montevideo (1-0 loss) and Venezuela in Caracas (defeat 2-1). This last commitment, even, improvising Alfaro with the central Robert Arboleda on the left wing.

“From the time of Francisco Maturana (Colombian technical director who directed the Tri from 1995 to 1997) the line of four was always implemented in the defensive part … The Ecuadorian player is not prepared to play with a line of three. When trying to play with a line of three there was a lot of confusion, “he said.

If we analyze what happened to Ecuador facing a game with a tactical system different from the traditional 1-4-4-2 in the previous triple round of the tie, at the time that Alfaro had a 1-3-4-3 online pulled off a distressing 2-0 win over Paraguay with scores in the final minutes; was defeated by Uruguay in Montevideo 1-0 when facing the duel with a 1-5-3-2 system and was surprised with a 1-4-3-3 in Caracas that cost him an expensive 2-1 defeat against the bottom Venezuela.

For this reason, Ayoví affirmed: “Today in Ecuador we do not have to invent anything because we have always played with a line of four and we do it well.”

In addition, the Esmeraldeño suggested that left-back Christian Cruz, from the Quito League ranks, “would do very well”, because he knows Rodrigo Paz Delgado’s court and is used to playing there with the albos.

With the absence of Estupiñán and Palacios, Gustavo Alfaro has to rearm the defense to receive Venezuela in the capital.

Cruz could make his debut to replace Estupiñán, although the coach could use center-back Piero Hincapié, who has already played on the left side with Bayer Leverkusen, in that position.

“Christian Cruz would do very well on the left wing, it’s his court and he’s used to it. Piero Hincapié is a great player and a central player in the National Team, it depends on what the technical director sees. But Cruz is a very intelligent player on the left, he must go there ”, said a convinced Ayoví, who in his time served as a defender and left back. (D)