Ecuador v Colombia ( Eliminatorias )

With all the complaining I read in this thread and the Bolivian thread I am just going to reiterate that we did win, we did get three points and we are currently in 4th place.

Think about that for a second.
The team is playing "poorly" according to most here and we won and are still in a good position to qualify as long as the scoring situation gets resolved.

On this match I will say what I said in the general thread. It concerns me and I will be very , very happy with a point celebrating like Pinto if we sneak out with a 0-0.

I think Pekerman will probably go with a lineup similar to the one he played in Paraguay with three Defensive Midfielders (This time maybe Sanchez-Barrios-Aguilar) and hope for someone like Cardona to save his arse at the end again..Or at worse run out of the stadium with the aforementioned 0-0.

 

The only thing that makes me a little bit confident about Tuesday is that Ecuador's Keeper looks horrible. He gave up some sloppy goals against Paraguay on Thursday.

But we have made worse keepers look like Oliver Kahn as Crzd would say so it may be moot.

 

They have 2 big players missing for Tuesday's match: Noboa and Bolanos. Specially Noboa who is their Vidal. Box to Box MF that is such a workhorse. And Bolanos is super speedy and effective. Both starters vs Paraguay. If we can null Valencia and his vision on the wings, we can make this work.

 

Bacana la alineacion pero dudo que Pekerman salga con algo asi. El man seguramente va a salir minimo con dos volantes de contencion.

Playing Poorly for over 2 years.

 

There's lots of teams out there that wish they could play poorly and get 3rd place in the Centenario and be currently in 4th place in the WCQing.

 

I'm sure there are but is that who we wanna use as a point of reference to compare ourselves to? We're destined for far greater things considering who our players and manager are.

 

I am not here talking about destiny. I am not here to talk about about how the team plays aesthetically. I am here to see if the team get's results it needs to make it to Russia and from there it is a clean slate.
We have seen a team like Uruguay that has high standards sleep walk their way to ugly results in qualifying and the playoffs and make it all the way to the semis of the 2010 World Cup.

Just Qualify. That is all I care about for now.

 

No, you're here justifying 2 years of shit play by validating it by talkin about shit teams who would love to be in our position. I'm not here to talk about shit teams.

We've seen a physical uruguay do that, just like we've seen Colombia sides in the past leave it to the last minute to try to qualify and we know how thats always turned out. I prefer to go the route of the 2014 wc and qualify with some degree of comfort.

 

You are missing the point.
The position in the Table and qualification to Russia is all that matters in the grand scheme of things.

Last Cycle we could have been crying about losing to Venezuela and Uruguay and looking horrible in those matches and giving up 3 goals at home to Chile but in the grand scheme of things that would have made us look stupid because all that mattered is what occurred in the World Cup.

Keep a proper perspective.

 

I understand that you don't care how we qualify, just that we do. I'm just giving my pov and the pov of most people who have been displeased at what we've seen the last 2 years since you addressed it in one of your posts above.

We beat chile in santiago last time and drew at home. This time we drew both times. We blew uruguay out at home last time. This time we got blown out and drew at home.

 

People can be displeased. It is your right to be sad I suppose.

But it is my right to say this team "playing badly" is still on track to make it to Russia and if they can solve the scoring issues maybe even make a run like last cycle.

It will not be easy and it may not happen, but it can happen.

As for what we did last cycle, yes we had better results for the most part. And I think many factors go into that. The leadership was much better on that team than it is today. Also the Fullback play was better and helped more in the attack than it has recently.

That I think we can agree on.

 

LOL sad? Naw, more like fed up and/or fustrated at seeing no progress. I suppose everyone has different standards.

You're free to think and do as you may, but when you call a specific group of people out, expect them to have a thing or 2 to say.

Yeah thats ONE of many valid reason that could explain our slow decline post 2014.

 

Can we all agree that we underachieved in 2015?

Can we all agree we underachieved in 2016?

Can we all agree that we have a team / roster of players that can compete and win against Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, chile, Argentina, etc. ?

if we continue to play our same style (or lack thereof) we will be out classed against teams that play with tactics and know how to adjust when core players go down and it has already happened when chile cleaned our clock 2016 CA and when Argentina owned us in 2015 CA (Ospina saved us from embarrassment)

Is waiting for falcao to be healthy the answer? Is waiting for Abel the answer?

I don't know...and I don't want to depend on one player to be the deciding factor that separates us between mediocrity and elite status.

Portugal was able to beat France in a tournament final in France despite missing the best player (or second best) in the world Bc they played with proper tactics and did not bunker or back down.

Pekerman has definitely had to think more this wcq campaign about who to use and shuffle more players due to injury and club form but even with the cards dealt to him, the execution has still been nerve racking.

We are getting by the skin of our teeth and if we don't shape up, it's going to be evident when a more organized team faces us in Russia or South America.

Ps. What I loved most about Spain 2008-12 run and Germany 2014 is that they could adjust when faced with adversity and would never lose their identity even when faced with tough obstacles.

 

Displeased, sad, semantics in my world.

I did expect people to have a thing or2 or 3 to say...
.... but it ended up sounding like you are calling teams below us in the table crappy teams and saying we have some destiny to be great as if it is some sort of birthright which sounds a bit obnoxious and spoiled for some strange reason.

Just my one or 2 things to say about that.

 

YES.

Finally, someone that gets it. Whats the point of barely scraping by and qualifying to a wc if we get taught a lesson anytime we face a big team? People really overlook the fact that we got knocked out by a "big" but mediocre (at the time) team in 2014. It really does us no good moving forward if we can only beat small teams and struggle against bigger teams.

 

Like I said, you and I have different standards. I don't think a team with as much quality as we have in our side needs or should be compared to the likes of Bolivia, Venezuela etc. Maybe thats who you think Colombia should compare itself to, but I don't. Call it snobby, or whatever you like. Its not a birthright. We're not Argentina or Brazil, however times have changed and we have much more players in Europe today than we did before. I'm tryna move up, not down or stay the same.

 

Now you are making a strawman argument since I never mentioned Bolivia or Venezuela.

Expectations need to be recalibrated due to present factors.
Last cycle we had leaders like Yepes and Falcao doing great things. We had guys like Zuniga and Armero doing great things. We had Teo playing like a super star at home. Midfielders with cohesion
It is not easy to replace all that. Which is why we have seen so many different lineups the last two years and tinkering with formations.
I expect the team to be in 4th place considering the facts. And considering the facts they are exceeding some of my expectations.

 

Well then who are you referring to? Chile? Theyre only a point behind. Paraguay? theyre sitting at 18 points. Not my fault you gave a vague description.

See this is all you had to say from the beginning rather than concerning yourself with such trivial matters like "semantics". This indeed is a huge factor of our current situation. I didn't expect a world class side just yet either, however I expect a coaching staff to sort a scoring problem thats been dragging on for more than 2 years.

I think its best if we leave things at that. We'll have to disagree on how we achieve what we all want. Lets just hope we get there.

 

Nueva baja en Ecuador:Fidel Martínez abandonó concentración por lesión

http://www.futbolred.com/seleccione...-concentracion-de-ecuador-por-lesion+16843787

 

pensaba en una formación que tape las bandas para mermar el juego de Ecuador... vamos a ver con que nos salen

 

You have the strangest arguments crzd.

Uruguay has nothing to do with this game.

I am wondering which players could come in and help contribute who have not been called up in the first place.

Focusing on the players he has had in camp for a week is not the worst thing in the world. Especially since we already have cohesion problems. Bringing in new faces would just convolute things even more.

 

We thought the same thing when Suarez and Cavani were out for Uruguay...Ended up getting thrashed 0-3

That match actually turned out to be very significant. Cuadrado got red carded, making it necessary to play a 3-man center midfield against Chile. We played great in Santiago and since then we've played EVERY away match with the 3-man midfield.

I had hopes Pekerman would go into Quito with more of an attacking formation, but this realization makes me doubt it'll happen. I don't trust Colombia's ability to keep Ecuador scoreless until minute 70 when we'll start to attack.

That also means Bacca is starting.

 

Weather expected for Tuesday:

64 degrees and 80% chance of rain.

I don't know if that may help us or hurt us but it is something to keep in mind.