World Cup 2026: Ecuador have shown little attacking efficiency and an almost unbeatable defense in the first six games of these South American qualifiers

He finished last night the third part of the calendar (6 sets of 18) of South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cupwhich will be discussed in Canada, United States and Mexicoin which the Ecuadorian national football team shows little attacking power, similar to the first six dates of the qualifying process for World Cup in Germany 2006.

On that occasion, he scored only five goals, as is happening now, in 540 minutes of play (not counting the extra time that had to be played for the current statistics).

This means that it is Tricolor He managed to score only one goal (on average) every 108 minutes and now in that connection, which puts both qualification processes in the ones with the lowest offensive efficiency.

In the first three games at home, the Tricolori completed 1,158 passes, of which they hit 961 (82.99%) and missed 197 (17.01%). Of his 28 shots, 12 were on goal (42.86%), only 3 were converted (10.71% of total shots).

Let’s recall the qualifying rounds played in the last two decades, the Tricolori did as follows in the first six rounds:

In the qualifiers for Germany 2006, the Tricolori had an offensive drought of 215 minutes in the first six rounds, when Édison Méndez’s goal in the 58th minute against Paraguay (2-1 loss for Tri) at the Defensores del Chaco stadium, in Asunción, on the 15th. November 2003 on matchday 3, he managed to score again only through Agustín Delgado in 3 minutes against Colombia (2-1 win for La Tri), on June 2, 2004 that day 6 at the Atahualpa Olympic Stadium in Quito, after they drew 0-0 with Peru at home and lost 1-0 against Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Although for the current 2026 World Cup qualifier, the offensive drought was a few minutes less (201) compared to 2006 (215), that is still a very long time without scoring a goal, over 200 minutes. After Kevin Rodríguez scored against Bolivia (1-2 win for Tri) in 90+6′ at the Hernando Siles Stadium, in La Paz, October 12, in the 3rd period, they went 0-0 at home with Colombia, another 0-0 away with Venezuela, to recently score again last night through Ángel Mena, in the 21st minute against Chile (1-0 win for Tri) at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium, in Quito, for the day of the 6th match.

Now let’s compare the offensive droughts in the first six rounds of each of the seven playoffs over the last two decades:

Defensive efficiency

Against this low offensive efficiency in the current game, the the defensive performance was very good receive (on average) a goal every 180 minutessurpassing the previous record (for the first six days) of a goal conceded every 108 minutes (on average) which occurred in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers in Germany.

The The tricolor accumulates in this tie 277 consecutive minutes without conceding goalsfrom Rodrigo Ramallo’s 83rd minute goal against Bolivia (1-2 win for Tri) on October 12 at Hernando Siles Stadium in La Paz, through 0-0 at home against Colombia, 0-0 away at Venezuela, and last night a 1:0 win over Chile.

Table of positions in the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup

In the Tricolor’s three home matches, their rivals (Uruguay, Colombia and Chile) made 1,009 passes, of which 807 were successful (79.98%), and 202 were errors (20.02%) because they were sent incorrectly or partially blocked they are the players of Ecuador. In total, they reached La Trio’s goal 17 times, 7 of which with a goal option (one ended with a goal from Uruguayan Agustín Canobbio).

This is how Ecuador fared at the end of the first six dates in each of the following qualifying rounds:

* If it didn’t start with a three-point penalty for the Byron Castillo case, the Tricolor would have 11 points and would be fourth in the current standings Table of positions. (D)