A statue is needed for Gustavo Alfaro. And for the coach who qualified Ecuador for its first World Cup, what does it take?

Ecuador secured their fifth appearance at the FIFA U-17 World Cup by defeating Argentina 1-0 the previous Thursday, for the penultimate date of the last hexagonal of the South American Championship in that category. The brilliant goal of Guayaquil’s promising midfielder Kendry Páez – a fifteen-year-old boy – on a rainy night in Quito electrified the public at the Atahualpa Olympic Stadium and moved millions of Ecuadorians who followed the development of the duel from afar. . Now the tricolors are focused on winning the gold medal on the closing day of the tournament, this Sunday.

To the joy of getting a ticket (the same way the 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions were accessed. Previously, in 1995, the national team also played the U-17 World Cup, but avoided the qualification process by being the host) after which he follows an act that becomes a trend every time national football achieves success of this scale: discrediting everything that happened before November 7, 2001, the day Ecuador entered the World Cup in Japan and South Korea in 2002.

As soon as the final whistle blew for Ecuador 1, Argentina 0, who speak as undisputed experts, she launched into a boring, outrageous chorus of discourse that taints the past. They used false statements as a method of analyzing the triumphant present of the Tricolor.

Would you tell him to his face?

On Thursday, these things were heard: “Before, Ecuadorian footballers had no personality (would you dare to say that personally, for example, to players who stood out precisely for their steel character like Vicente Lecar, Lupo Quiñónez, Hólger. Quiñónez, or Luis Capurro? )”. There were references to the totem they respected: “Before Luis Chiriboga Acosta did not exist (with Carlos Coella and Francisco Egas as presidents of the FEF, the national team also reached the World Cup. Neither of these two directors received punishments from ordinary justice nor bear the shame of being banned for life by FIFA, as wrestling Čiriboga).

And the nonsense continued, mostly via hertz waves: “Previously, it was played in parks and in stadiums that had wood on the pitch (since January 1900, when the first soccer match to be announced in Ecuador was played in Guayaquil, there have never been any amateur matches or professional football competitions in these abnormal conditions)”. And there are also nonsense like this: “Before the arrival of v Roll we never went to the World Cup”. It is true that the football pleasure provided today by the U-17 team of coach Diego Martínez is not new. There is a happy precedent that happened in 1986, but it is half-forgotten or ignored and minimized by those who surprisingly assume that soccer was born in Ecuador the day they became interested in the sport.

Yes, there was a coach in Ecuador who predicted that Hernán Darío Gómez would go to the FIFA World Cup. No one is asking for a statue of this famous and historical figure, like the one allegedly erected in honor of Gustavo Alfaro (FEF plaintiff for $4 million).

A feat from 1986

An unforgettable date that marks before and after is Sunday, October 19, 1986. The soccer team recorded it for posterity because it was their first qualification for the World Cup. This happened 15 years before the achievement Roll and 37 before a generation of minors led by Kendry Páez, Jairo Collahuaz and Keny Arroyo lifted the under-17s. “Even the passage of time has failed to undo a fact so exciting and praised more than three decades ago,” EL UNIVERSO stated in March 2022, in a note commemorating the 1986 feat.

Three entered the 1987 U-16 World Cup in Canada by drawing 2-2 at the José Díaz Stadium in Lima with Bolivia at the end of the final stage of the South American game in Peru in 1986. If Ecuador succumbed to the Altiplano result they would take the crown, but the tie was enough to finish in third place and seal the passport to compete in the FIFA tournament.

‘Ecuador qualifies for World Cup for first time’ read this newspaper’s front page headline in October 1986. “The fans happily celebrated the placement of our national team at the World Cup. Our team had an excellent campaign and finished unbeaten in the pre-youth tournament,” it was announced. Ecuador’s scorers were Alcides Solís (Barcelona) and Óscar Carchi (Liga Deportiva Bernardino, from Loja). Marco Antonio Etcheverry’s double saved the Bolivians who returned to the Olympic Games.

Moacyr, before Roll

Moacyr Claudino Pinto, the famous Brazilian representative – Pelé, Garrincha and Didí, was responsible for the unexpected undertaking as a coach. who lifted the World Cup in Sweden in 1958. Trained as a coach in Ecuador, where as a midfielder for Everest and Barcelona he flooded football pitches with the same exceptional quality he showed at Flamengo, Peñarol and River Plate, Moacyr led the national team to the top of Group B with with these results: 0-0 with Brazil, 1-0 win over Peru, 3-0 loss against Venezuela and 3-3 draw with the Brazilians in a hell of a fight in the first round.

In the crucial phase of the 1986 South American Under-16 Championship, Moacyr’s hosts drew with Argentina (0-0), Brazil (1-1) and Bolivia (2-2). The trainer from São Paulo, then 50 years old, was accompanied on that difficult task by Juan Triviño (assistant), Edilberto Ruiz (physical trainer), Mario León (doctor), Francisco Alvear (props) and Miguel Cepeda (kinesiologist).

The names of the heroes who led Ecuador to its first FIFA World Cup are deprived of the recognition they deserve, but they are forever remembered, renewed every time one investigates who first reached the World Cup with the national team.

The first world championship

These are the sub-16 pioneers from 1986, whose names should be on the board (perhaps in the House of Selection): Helmuth Moeller (Barcelona), Edwin Ramírez (Deportivo Quevedo), Enrique Muñoz (Barcelona), Raúl turkey Noriega (Barcelona), Orlando Nazareno (Esmeraldas Petrolero), Lucitano Castro (Filanbanco), Nelson Toral (Filanbanco), Segundo Mina (Filanbanco), Tito Bravo (Filanbanco), Óscar Carchi, Jorge Aguilar (Deportivo Quevedo), Rafael Mejía (Filanbanco ) ), Alcides Solís (Barcelona), Jackson Cevallos (Filanbanco), Enrique Pizarro (Barcelona), Víctor Ramos (Emelec), José Morán (Panama), Ansor Filián (Filanbanco), Rafael Mejía (Filanbanco), Óscar Carchi (Liga Deportiva Bernardino), May Gutiérrez (Quito League), Luis Patiño and Julio García.

On March 22, 2002, in an interview with EL UNIVERSO, Moacyr recalled: “It was a nice, important championship, from the preparations and the selection of the boys. And above all because of the union that existed in the group: well educated and with the desire to leave the name of Ecuador high. The way they behaved, the way they played… These are things that are difficult to explain, because everything went well for us, everything was planned with the boys before the start of the competition”. At the 1987 Canada U-16 World Cup, Moacyr, who was unwilling to fly, was replaced by national team player Eduardo Macías.

The South American under-16 match was no longer played in that category, and since the Paraguayan edition in 1991, it has been played in the under-17 category. The same change of years happened at the 1991 World Cup in Italy. (D)