First U-20 World Cup in Ecuador: FEF ‘leaving’, coaches beaten and player complaints

Four teams have sealed their tickets for the World Championship under 20 years 2001 during participation in the South American championship of the category (from January 12 to February 4 of that year). And although Ecuador, which was the host country, finished in fifth place in the final hexagonal – therefore, penultimate – it was part of the quartet classified by Conmebol.

He favored national football, when it was necessary to concretize his own first trip to the World Championship in the under-20 category, that the venue of the FIFA tournament was Argentina. This ensured the Albiceleste, who also won the South American title in 2001, their automatic presence at the event. The four places achieved through the qualifying rounds have been completed Brazil (champion), Paraguay (third), Chile (fourth) and Ecuador (although fifth).

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On May 1, 2001, EL UNIVERSO reported that “after the draw for the U-20 World Cup, where Ecuador won Group E with the Netherlands (now the Netherlands), Costa Rica and Ethiopia, the leadership of the tricolor already has the logistics ready. ” . Preparations begin next Monday, in Guayaquil”.

‘Leaving’ the FEF

On the way to the 2001 World Cup (from 17 to 8 June) there were internal problems that affected the normal operation of Tri. This newspaper reported on May 29 that “all attention is on the senior team who play Peru in Lima next Saturday, team under the age of 20who will perform at the World Cup in Argentina in three weeks, he was neglected by the leadership of Ecuafútbol”.

The note added that “The athletes of the young national team, led by their captain Javier Intriaga, regretted that no manager had improved their economic situation. Luis Chiriboga, president of Ecuafútbol, ​​left the negotiations to the organization’s vice president, Carlos Villacis, as he will accompany the senior team to Lima.

It further clarified that “players under the age of 20 receive a monthly salary of $200 while on the tricolor team, but some earn more than $400 on their campuses.” “We are a little devastated. We also want them to take us into account,” said Jorge Vargas, the team’s winger, while his teammate Líder Mejía spoke about the leadership: “It seems that for them we are not a priority and we are the ones who will go to the World Cup,” he emphasized is.

Complaints against managers

However, less than two weeks later, Villacís also disappeared from the map. SVEMIR gave the details and On June 5, 2001, it was announced that “Ecuafútbol does not pay due attention to youth. Sub-20, abandoned again. It was supposed to be the first national participation in the World Championship of that category, but it was an obvious managerial improvisation.

“There are less than two weeks until the start of the 2001 World Cup, and the young Ecuadorian national team still has doubts logistical and operational details that you have to sort out before traveling to Salta, the headquarters of his group. Yesterday, the team started the last week of preparations abandoned again at the FEF headquarters”, condemned this newspaper.

Not even Coach Fabián Vicente Burbano was unaware of anything. DT revealed that they do not know “the exact travel schedule; We don’t know what time it is. Hopefully it will be cleared up this week. There is no manager.”

A note dated 5 June 2001 highlighted several aspects of the disruption as “although the players were looking for an under-20 co-ordinator last week”, the coach said “nothing has been heard about it yet”.

Beating DT

And on June 6 more problems thanks to ‘forgetful’ FEF leaders: “The coaching staff and players have requested international warm-up matches, the Ecuadorian Football Association has agreed to just one against Boca Junior’s under-21 team, in Argentina on June 12.”

June 10, 2001, the day of the trip to Argentina, Javier Intriago, captain of Ecuador, He complained about the process in a chat for EL UNIVERSO. Are you ready for the World Cup?, he was asked at the wheel of Santa Rita. He replied: “Really. We are not at a good level for the World Cup. We still have seven days, we hope in the friendly matches in Argentina that we will gain experience and the level of football that is needed. The players joined late, some were playing in the Copa Libertadores, others were starters in their clubs, this complicated group work. There was also a lack of international matches.”

He was asked what the under-20 was still missing, and Intriago said: “Calm down. We all know we had problems as a result defeating Professor Hugo Gallego, the team felt hurt (the Colombian coach was savagely attacked in Guayaquil on April 10, 2001 when he submitted his resignation, which the Federation did not accept). Sub-20 was abandoned. We had to appeal to cover the needs of the team”.

Selected

Intriago did not avoid the topic of repeated changes of coaches. “It’s difficult because every technician has his own way of working. Josimar (José María Andrade) worked one way, Professor Gallego another, and you really have to do what each coach asks of you. This is the first time I had to change the coach in the national team in less than a year, but with each one you learn something (Fabián Burbano was in charge for a while, left, then came back to lead the World Youth Championship)” .

For the 2001 World Cup, these were the players Burbano chose: Omar Estrada (Liga de Quito) and Daniel Viteri (Emelec), goalkeepers; Franklin Corozo (Emelec), William Cuero (Barcelona), Pool Gavilánez (Santa Rita), Jorge Guagua (El Nacional), Edwin Pineda (Liga de Quito); midfielders, Segundo Alejandro Castillo (Espoli), Javier Intriago (Santa Rita), Líder Mejía (Liga de Quito), Christian Quiñónez (Barcelona), Jorge Vargas (Liga de Quito); Félix Borja (El Nacional), Walter Iza (Aucas), Roberto Mina (Salesianos) and Franklin Salas (Liga de Quito), Estuardo Quiñónez (Catholic University) and Pedro Esterilla (Espoli), strikers.

Goals by Mina and Guagua

The debut took place on June 18, 2001 against Ethiopia; Twenty-four hours earlier, Burbano – a former midfielder for Técnico Universitario, who was followed at the World Cup by Duffer Alman as a physical coach – described his team like this: “It’s obviously South American style. In defense, he is in a good position, but he has difficulties in attack. It is difficult for us to score goals. We missed a lot of opportunities, and that is expensive at the World Cup”.

Ethiopia took the lead in the 4th minute, but Roberto Mina (25) and Jorge Guagua (63) turned the score around and Ecuador opened their first game at the FIFA U-20 World Cup with a 2-1 victory over the Africans. This was the formation: Viteri; Corozo, Gavilánez, Guagua, Vargas; C. Quiñónez, Castillo, Intriago (Esterilla, 81), Mejía (E. Quiñónez, 46); Mina and Borgia. According to this newspaper, La Tri had “better tactical order and greater commitment” than their rival.

The second match was 1-1 with the Netherlands, who took the lead after 21 minutes, but Jorge Vargas equalized after 85 minutes. At the end of Group E, the team lost 1-0 against Costa Rica. La Tri entered the round of 16 where on June 23, 2001, in Mar del Plata, the World Cup adventure ended with a 1-0 loss to Ghana. (D)