The national teams of Ecuador and Bolivia will meet this Saturday in the American city of New Jersey with the aim of starting the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, which begin in September.

Ecuador started a new process with the Spanish coach Félix Sánchez Basa, and for the match against the Bolivians, they reached out to several players who played at the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

Hernán Galíndez from Aucas, defenders Piero Hincapié from Bayer Leverkusen and Pervis Estupiñán from England’s Brighton, as well as forward Enner Valencia from Brazil’s Internacional stand out in goal.

The list includes several references who are active in the Ecuadorian league and in the main championships of Conmebol and Concacaf.

The casualties in this call-up are Kendry Páez, who promised 16 years due to documentation problems, and Diego Palacios, who did not appear at the call-up, while the inclusion of young defender Stalin Valencia stands out.

Spain’s Sánchez took charge of his side’s two games against Australia at the FIFA date in March, which ended in a 3-1 loss and a 1-2 win at the start of his cycle.

La Verde, now led by Argentine coach Gustavo Costas, has settled the base of his team with players from Bolívar and The Strongest, both from La Paz, to which some ‘foreigners’ have been added to strengthen their ranks.

Among them stands out La Verde’s all-time top scorer Marcelo Martins, currently linked with Ecuador’s Independiente del Valle and who may not be part of the squad for the match against Ecuador due to injury.

There is also his young promise Miguel Terceros, from the Brazilian Santos, midfielders Danny Bejarano from the Greek Lamia and Boris Céspedes, who plays for the Swiss Servette.

The Costas arrive expecting to show an up-and-down performance from the team’s previous term of friendlies, when they narrowly lost to Uzbekistan and beat Saudi Arabia 1-2 at home.

On the first day of qualification for the World Cup, which will be played in September, Ecuador will visit Argentina, and then they will host Uruguay.

Bolivia will make their debut against Brazil and will await Argentina in La Paz.

Probable lineups:

Ecuador: Hernan Galindez; Felix Torres, Angelo Preciado, Pervis Estupiñán, Piero Hincapié; Alan Franco, Ángel Mena, Moisés Caicedo, Ángelo Preciado; Leonardo Campana and Enner Valencia.

Coach: Felix Sanchez Bas.

Bolivia: Carlos Lampe; Diego Bejarano, Adrián Jusino, Jairo Quinteros, Roberto Fernández; Gabriel Villamil, Luciano Ursino, Alvaro Quiroga, Ramiro Vaca; Jeyson Chura and Carmelo Algaranaz.

Coach: Gustavo Costas.

Stadium: Red Bull Arena. (D)