To this day, on the eve of the match between Venezuela and Ecuador, at the Monumental Stadium in Maturín – for the fifth term of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers -, Llanero’s invariable habit of underestimating football makes people say things like “it will be a matter of going away and coming back with points ” because “history and the present favor representation.” Those comments are not made-up examples, they have been repeated so far this week by some journalists and on social media by national fans.
In fact, history is against the Tricolor when they visited Simón Bolívar’s country to play official matches. A negative history does not mean that Félix Sánchez Bas’s side are doomed to failure against Vinotint this Thursday. However, even the result in favor of Ecuador is not certain, as it is estimated, because the opponent is Vinotinto.
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More defeats than triumphs
The national team lost 50% of the times it appeared in Venezuela in matches before the World Cup. Even if La Tri returns from Maturín with a victory, the hegemony will remain in the hands of the Venezuelans.
In the first qualifying match between the two countries, 30 years ago, things went badly for Ecuador. This is the number and total statistics of the national team’s matches during the visit to Venezuela.
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What time do they play Venezuela vs. Ecuador for the South American qualifiers
1. United States of America 1994
“New Disappointment” was the headline of EL UNIVERSA on September 13, 1993, referring to the slump Ecuador had suffered 24 hours earlier in Puerto Ordaz against Venezuela. It was the second defeat in a row in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup in the USA (a week before, in Guayaquil, Uruguay celebrated 1-0).
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Mauro Velásquez, in his book Ecuadorian football and its national team, wrote this about “one of the most humiliating defeats”: “Venezuela finally found a team ready to lose. The development of the national eleven is deplorable. His people are clumsy. “Demotivated despite still having very little chance of qualifying (…), aberrant, disastrous, convoluted approach by Dušan Drašković.” Ecuador lost 2-1. Byron Tenorio opened the scoring, but then home team Juan García and Luis Morales scored.
The result was widely accepted as Ecuador beat Venezuela 6-1 in the Copa América in June 1993. And on September 5 of that year, they crushed the llaneros 5-0 in the playoffs. Both matches were in Quito.
2. France 1998
Ecuador lost two points which ultimately took away any possibility of placing as it was tied at 1 due to a weak Venezuelan team. It was on July 6, 1997 in Maracaibo, in front of 6,000 people. Iván Hurtado opened the scoring in the 55th minute by beating Rafael Dudamel. Gabriel Miranda, who played for Emelec the year before, equalized 15 minutes before the end.
3. Japan-South Korea 2002
On November 15, 2000, Ecuador beat Venezuela in a qualifier in Maracaibo. It was a 2-1 win with goals from Jaime Iván Kaviedes and Wellington Sánchez in the 3rd and 23rd minutes, respectively. Juan García brought down, in the 66th.
4. Germany 2006
At the Pueblo Nuevo Sports Center, San Cristóbal, Ecuador lost to visiting Venezuela. On October 14, 2004, those led by Richard Páez won 3-1. The double scorer was llanero Ruberth Morán (72nd and 80th minutes), and Gabriel Urdenate finished the job in the 20th year, with a penalty. Marlon Ayoví temporarily equalized at 1, from the biggest penalty, in the 41st minute.
5. South Africa 2010
“Venezuela trampled Ecuador 3-1,” said EL UNIVERSO of the collapse in Puerto La Cruz, October 15, 2008, at the 2010 World Cup. At the Estadio General José Anzoátegui, the Tricolori took the lead through Isaac Mina (10 minutes). ), but in the second half the “nervous” team failed to maintain the result and with the goals of Giancarlo Maldonado (48 minutes), Alejandro Moreno (56) and Juan Arango (67) they lost to Vinotint 3-1.
6. Brazil 2014
On October 16, 2012, Juan Manuel Arango opened the scoring for Venezuela. The equalizer came in the 23rd minute, when Segundo Castillo fired a right-footed shot into the box, between opposing defenders, and beat goalkeeper Daniel Hernández, Diario said for a 1-1 tie in the tenth round of the playoffs.
7. Russia 2018
Tricolor defeated Venezuela 3-1 at Cachamay Stadium in Puerto Ordaz, November 2015. Fidel Martínez, Jefferson Montero and Felipe Caicedo scored for Tricolor in the plain; Josef Martínez added a home discount.
8. Qatar 2022
On October 10, 2021, the national team was shipwrecked in the house of the llaneros. “Eduardo Bello’s goal with the help of goalkeeper Moisés Ramírez gave Vinotint the victory in the second half (64 minutes). Ecuador went down 2-1 against Venezuela, bottom of the South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a result far from the calculation of Tri coach Gustavo Alfaro,” EL UNIVERSO reported. Enner Valencia led La Tri with a penalty at 37, and Darwin Mach temporarily equalized (45).
As a guest, Ecuador played a total of eight times with Venezuela in the qualifiers. La Tri won two games, tied two and lost four. On flat pitches, he scored eleven goals and conceded fourteen. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
