A narrow 2-1 win for Ecuador team on the road in Bolivia, a match in which Tricolor had passages in which it was outmatched by its rivalsbut managed to recover in added minutes with a goal from Kevin Rodríguez, in the match for the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

“We didn’t play the best game,” admitted Francisco Egas.president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF), who pointed out that playing in La Paz “it’s always difficult, it’s difficult to control the ball. It’s a place that’s still complicated even though Bolivia doesn’t have such good moments with their team,” added the manager due to problems related to the height factor.

Kevin Rodríguez: Let this goal be one of the first joys that can be given to the country

Although He was not satisfied with the “collective functioning”, Egas highlighted the points that La Tri added to the qualification table. “In the end, we won with difficulty, but all the points are tied, they are importantThey are worth a lot and now we are going to prepare for the match with Colombia, he said.

“This is one very hard elimination, you win and you lose, Now many teams are very close in terms of points, but with the win I think we did our homework,” said the coach.

With the triumph, Ecuador climbed to seventh place in the tablewhere are you three points despite two wins, this to subtract three units after the punishment in FIFA for the case of Byron Castilloa problem for which Ecuafútbol has filed a complaint with the Swiss courts, awaiting a positive resolution.

“The annulment of the TAS verdict is expected (Sports Arbitration Court), I hope it will be the same here, but we must continue the fight at the table, let’s keep pushing because the most valuable points are those won on the field,” said Egas.

Regarding the appeal process, the administrator indicated: “The verdict is still being analyzed, the annulment request has been in the Swiss court for weeks. It is difficult to know when because there is no specific time, it could be three or four months“and we are already close to that, let’s hope that it will be resolved in our favor”, concluded the head of the FEF. (D)