felt good with the line up and formation. James finally had someone to play with in cardona. unlike Uribe last game. team felt balanced and it showed. crucial 6 points!
Anything can happen. We're not celebrating but we got a lot closer. We still needs to push for the final stretch and hopefully we can even advance before the last matchday. Besides, Peru and Paraguay have basically no room to wiggle (9-10 points needed) and Ecuador needs also a high percentage on a tough schedule (6-8 points). Needing 4 points looks doable, that's all.
One other thing I enjoyed about this match is how for the past years the Ecua forums just had such disdain for Colombian coaches despite the fact that they had taken them to 3 WCups. They ran Rueda out of dodge and just gave about every excuse in the book how the Colombian DTs just dont cut it for their squad. Rueda would have had that WC ticket practically booked. Karma.
Speaking of that, on WIN Sports before the game, they showed, I don't remember the newspaper in Ecuador, but they ran a special on Colombian coaches in Ecuador and the legacy they left behind.
Our bench is very odd. They don't look good on paper but Gareca makes them look like top players. The other day we were missing Ramos and Cueva (got an injury in the 35th minute) and we hardly missed them because their replacements did just a good a job. Guerrero is a top player and this time around he looks unstoppable, so despite that we have Bolivia next we will still miss him.
One last thing about this match: I was watching YouTube highlights with Ecuadorean commentators and they thought the play where Borja went down against the keeper mano-a-mano should have been called a penalty. I think Borja went down too easily but it could be argued that we should have had a penalty.