On Sunday, October 19, 1986, Ecuador drew 2-2 with Bolivia, in La Paz, on the final date of the U-16 South American Championship organized by Conmebol. A double by the young Marco Antonio Etcheverry robbed Tricolor of victory and the title; however, third place was enough for the bronze medalists to register a historic event for the nation’s football: the first qualification for the FIFA World Cup.

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That U-16 team led by the Brazilian Moacyr left for history another striking fact, which has changed dramatically today: two clubs from Guayaquil were the base of the team that won the ticket to the World Cup in Canada in 1987. Filanbanco, which during had three seasons in Serie A, participated with seven players; and Barcelona SC, with six elements in the successful qualification process. The Liga de Quito barely had a representative.

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Times and circumstances have changed regarding the influence of the minor divisions of football in Buenos Aires on the formation of national teams. Last Tuesday, coach Miguel Bravo provided the list of those selected to compete for Ecuador at the 2023 Under-20 World Cup in Argentina (May 20 to June 11), and the presence of players from two AFNA teams in the call-up was devastating.

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They are sending two from Quito

Independiente del Valle leads that list with half a dozen young players going to the U-20 World Cup: Christian Loor (also U-17 goalkeeper), Kendry Páez, Alan Minda (midfielders), Justin Cuero, Maelo Rentería and José Klínger (all forward).

Liga de Quito is the second most contributing team from the capital, with five elements that are: Daniel de la Cruz, Yeltzin Enrique (defenders), Madison Minda, Sebastián González and Óscar Zambrano (midfielders). But there is a significant aspect related to the albums and it refers to the footballers who are active abroad, because most of them have a common experience in the categories of university education.

They are Stalin Valencia (Pumas Tabasco), Mayki de la Cruz (Stade Reims), Nilson Angulo (Anderlecht), Denil Castillo (Shakhtar Donetsk), who started in the Quito League. And in the case of Joel Ordóñez (Bruges), he made his first league debut with Independiente del Valle.

Barcelona, ​​absent

The striped and lily superiority is not complete due to isolated cases such as goalkeeper Gilmar Napa and midfielder Tommy Chamba, both from Emelec; and goalkeeper Tony Jiménez, from Guayaquil City. There are no members of Barcelona SC in the Tricolor who will soon make their debut at the U-20 World Cup (against the United States, May 20 in San Juan).

Last January, when Ecuador’s call-up list for the South American U-20 team was announced, Carlos Alfaro Moreno, the Canarian president, said: “I’m angry with the coach of the U-20 team. (Jimmy) Bran graduated from the FEF Institute and, through a contract with Barcelona SC, came to intern at the club in 2016. He was later paid for his ability and preparation. He led our training sessions, he knows the team very well and, in my opinion, and maybe I’m wrong, he must have taken some toreador”.

“This was strange,” Alfaro Moreno finished then. However, Miguel Bravo, instead of the sacked Bran, did not think that he could get a player for the World Cup from the yellow formations.

Trained in Ourense

As for the other group of shipyards, Emelec, the aforementioned electrical companies, José Pileggi, the blue president, said: “It is a great joy that (Gilmar) Napa and (Tommy) Chamba have been invited to the U-20 World Cup. The club is investing in the future , they are not just wealth, they are big players. It confirms that we are doing things well”.

But despite this managerial satisfaction, both Napa and Chamba are from Machala and neither player has made it out of Emelec’s training categories. The goalkeeper and the midfielder are the product of the work of the lower units of Orense, the institution that transferred them to Emelec this season.

Chamba even made his Serie A debut for Orense on 13 August 2022 in a match against Mushuc Run; He has already played eight official games with the millionaires (none of 90 minutes. Six for the Pro League and two for the Copa Sudamericana). Napa also made their first league debut with Orense (November 21, 2021, against Universidad Católica).

In addition, Napa, as the goalkeeper of the Machaleño team, was called up by Gustavo Alfaro to the senior team for the last two preparatory matches for Qatar 2022 (Saudi Arabia and Iraq). Napa, so far in the Pro League 2023, did not make his debut in Emelec. (D)