Ecuador: lackluster in his game, but close to the Qatar 2022 World Cup

Without showing much brilliance in his game, Ecuador shortened the distance to Qatar-2022 by consolidating on Thursday in third place of the South American tie, after beating a hopeless Venezuela 1-0 in Quito.

The cominbado of the center of the world added 20 points plus 8 goal difference and it is located behind the classified Brazil (34) and the firm Argentina (25), which visits Uruguay (16) this Friday at the close of the thirteenth day of the World Cup.

“It was not played well, but in the end we have to rescue the three points,” analyst Joselo Sánchez, director of the sports magazine Winner, told AFP.

The national coach, Argentine Gustavo Alfaro, after overcoming the Vinotinto with suffering, he was satisfied. “It was the victory that we needed, we knew that we had to reach this magic figure of 20 points,” he said at a press conference.

Ecuador will finish the year in the qualifying zone no matter how lucky it is to visit Chile on Tuesday, which beat Paraguay 1-0 at home and with 16 points got fully into the fight for a place in Qatar.

“The most important thing is to get to the World Cup. There will be times to play well, but to get to the World Cup we would have to wait another four years, “Carlos Torres Garcés, former coach and tricolor selected, told AFP.

The Tricolor he only finished four times on goal playing at home and got the only goal through a set ball. Also, in the last minutes was cornered by pressure from Venezuela and yielded much of the position, which did not end up being used by the Vinotinto.

Young figures

With an average of 23 years on the court, Alfaro’s troops emerged gracefully against the uncomfortable Venezuela, hit by the suspension and injury of five players.

The national team “is managing a replacement and the results are accompanying it,” said Paúl Ambrosi, former figure of the Quito League and the national squad, for AFP.

Ecuador missed creative Ángel Mena and strikers Enner Superman Valencia, the historical scorer of the tricolor (34), and the battering ram Michael Estrada, who has scored five goals in this qualifier.

However, Alfaro’s team coped well with midfielder Jeremy Sarmiento, 19, and attacker Djorkaeff Reasco (22), who made the starters for the first time. Piero Hincapié (19) turned out to be the figure when he scored the winning goal minutes from the end of the first stage.

Despite the resistance due to the lack of showiness of Ecuador, the team enjoys an enviable third place and it has shown balance with a favorable numerical balance.

“I have not liked most of Ecuador’s games, but I am satisfied with the position of third, and that is enough,” Torres Garcés stressed.

“Nobody wants to lose”

With five games left to play, the tricolor appear as the second highest scoring squad in the South American World Cup with 21 annotations, only behind Brazil (27).

In the rear it looks like the third best rear of the regional with 13 goals against; The Brazilian defense that conceded 4 and the Argentine one that received 6 were hardly more efficient.

Sánchez was confident in a good presentation against the Red because “the best matches in Ecuador in this tie were away.”

The results of the day also played in favor of Ecuador, which was four points above Chile and Colombia, the latter was the victim of Brazil when they fell 1-0.

Next January the tricolor will receive Brazil in Quito and then visit an urgent Peru in February. On the last day, the Ecuadorian team will face Paraguay and then play in their fiefdom with Argentina.

“Nobody will give away anything (…) they are national team matches in which nobody wants to lose,” said Ambrosi. (D)