Players Jesús Polo and Aimar Govea were confident that Ecuador will “raise their heads” after the defeat to Uruguay and “take things forward” to get a positive result against Chile this Friday to qualify them for the South American Under-17 finals stage which takes place in the country.

Coach Diego Martínez’s La Tricolor complicated their qualification for the hexagonal with their 0-2 loss against Celeste and La Roja’s 2-0 win over Colombia on Wednesday.

What does Ecuador need to qualify for the final hexagonal of the South American U-17?

However, the mini-Tri have the possibility of advancing to the next round on the fifth and final day of Group A, which will take place this Friday at the same time.

Since Brazil has been placed since the third day, there are still two places left for which Chile, Uruguay and Ecuador will fight, while Colombia with one point is left with no chance of going further.

Canarinha dominates the top of the group with seven points, followed by Chile with six and Uruguay together with Ecuador with four points.

The Mini-Tri by defeating Chile will qualify for the final hexagonal, regardless of the result of the match between Brazil and Uruguay.

A tie also serves him, as long as Uruguay wins.

“We are confident that we will get a good result, we will move things forward and everything will turn out very well,” Polo told reporters ahead of training in Espol on Thursday.

“We are calm, confident, we know what we have to do, we trust the group and the work of the professional staff,” he added.

The defender was self-critical and pointed out two main shortcomings of the national team in the duel with Celeste.

“I think we have to be more efficient in the area, more solid in defense.”

You have to be aware that Uruguay were better than us, they passed us, so you have to correct the mistakes and go out tomorrow (today) to do things in the best way, he said.

Regarding Chile, he said: “We believe that it is a good team, they did things in the best way; lost to Brazil and then won two games. He is a strong opponent.”

Spanish Ecuadorian Aimar Govea was short on words. Welshman Swansea City didn’t have the dream debut against Uruguay, but he made a good impression with his association game.

“The first thing I want to say is thank you to all the fans for supporting us, we have to keep working. I’m (very) happy to come in, to help the team, we have to keep working and correct the mistakes”.

“We have to raise our heads and go for a result against Chile.”

(The Uruguayans) had a good rhythm, we slowed it down a bit. Tomorrow we have to keep the pace, with everything…”.

DT Martínez asked us to “continue with our heads held high,” because “we can and we have a great team,” Govea said.

“We have a good team, we are all a great team, we will all continue to cheer. I know the right wing, the midfield, we are all very good and we are moving on,” concluded Swansea City’s agile, quick and forward-facing winger.

(D)