Data reporters rated Mendez pretty poorly, which is regrettable and I'm not sure if it's representative of his game as a whole. I thought he wasn't too bad last night, but I'm not sure I'd qualify him as a standout. Our best two players last night: Hincapie and Plata. Mendez does have a great upside and a lot of redeemable qualities...including having a family pedigree behind him who will definitely be active in his development. He will get better for sure. I also agree on Campana. He needs to get a starting spot for the next game. I'd actually say that Noboa needs to start as well. He's languishing on the bench and when he plays, the team is notably better. While he's not a PURE leader in the traditional standpoint, his experience weighs heavy on our squad and they rise to the occasion to play alongside him instead of Franco.
Enner has proven to not work as a left winger. He should only play as a second striker or solo (he tends to struggle). Ecuador appear to be lacking options in terms of width with the exception of Plata. Perhaps the solution could be to ditch the current set up and go 3 at the back. Estupiñan and A. Preciado are capable of playing this position (especially Preciado who’s done it more often than Estupiñan). Assuming that Plata isn’t fully fit (he looked at the brink of injury last match), I would say use this line up Enner Valencia-Mena C. Noboa Estupiñan-Franco-Mendez-Preciado Torres-Hincapié-Arboleda Galíndez/Ortiz This would actually play to the characteristics of the players here. Preciado and Estupiñan would have more freedom to push up with 3 CBs behind them. Hincapié would look very comfortable in a back three (he is the more technical of the 3 defenders). I wouldn’t mind Franco or M. Caicedo, I left that as a possible option. Noboa can help with midfield creativity and this would alleviate him of some defensive responsibilities. Enner and Mena are probably more mobile than a front two of Estrada and J. Caicedo. For subs, Diaz and Plata (if not fully fit) can come on later in the 2nd half. Alfaro has already shown that the team is flexible with formations, playing a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3/4-2-3-1. I don’t think a 3-4-1-2 would be a bad idea considering the situation (lack of wing depth, tournament’s a good time to experiment, etc). Ecuador has the players for it.
This is an interesting lineup that shows promise. One thing holds true, though...we definitely miss Gruezo.
This line up looks promising,but I would leave out Moisés,the reason you see Mendez all over the place is because his covering Moisés sloppy play,he’s working double,he needs to be benched till he regains his form.If Alfaro is going to insist on Pervis and Preciado they should be working on plays where they actually finish them or have an idea of where to pass.these guys are SO predictable,defenses just wait and break up their play or take away the ball from them,they don’t try to cut on diagonal and link up with the mids or even try to filter passes to the forwards.something has to change,we’re not generating any plays whatsoever with these two.
Our problems do stem from midfield. Our defense did great yesterday intercepting plays (Hincapie, Preciado especially) but it's our final third that needs to step their game up. One of the forwards should be pulling defenders out wide so our midfielders can make runs into the box and our midfield SHOULD be making those runs. However, our midfield seems timid and afraid to attack. If our midfield gets going, this team is going to be very hard to stop because teams won't be able to shut us down easily.
The timidity is, IMO, a direct result of a lack of responsibility. With 17/23 team members having less than 10 caps at the senior level, we don't have guys who naturally step up to attack or command on the pitch. Gonazlo Plata is, at the moment, the only guy who is stepping up, but the dude is all alone and he's not pushing the rest of the squad. He's already doing too much as it is. I also worry about burning him out with the expectations. Like, what else can he do?
I agree. Players in midfield aren't sure of what their role is and that's on Alfaro. IMO he needs to set up a double pivot where one mid is more offensive and one is more defensive. Put a winger that can track back on the offensive sided one and and an attacking winger on the defensive sided one so we keep a balance. I think he's almost found the solution but we desperately need our midfield to stop being shy. This Ecuador has all the tools to dominate matches but their mentality has to be confident and not second guess things. The moment you hesitate, you lose a goal scoring opportunity.
While Sevilla might be right to say there are other better players who might be younger, faster and possibly more technically gifted, he's smoking crack. Even as a Liga fan, I have to recognize that Kitu Diaz has contributed sufficiently on the team to demonstrate he can hang on the team and he's passionate about representing the right way. Plus, as an elder on the team, he can also help guide younger players. I'll reiterate, Sevilla is trippin', and he's saying this just to get in the headlines. https://www.futbolecuador.com/site/...haber-mejores-jugadores-en-su-posicion/134860
Can't blame him the nationalist in me feels the same way on the inside. Wouldn't it have been nice If Miller Bolanos, Juan Cazares, or Junior Sornoza could of lived up to their potential as nt players. None of them did really and now we are turning to a 35 y/o Diaz. On paper our guys have had much better careers than Diaz has. But each of our guys has their flaws and didn't cut it out on the nt. I have to admit Diaz proved he earned a spot on the team he merits his call and deserves more playing time. Naturalized players will always get this hate look at Mexico now with Funes Mori
Who has his skillset? Sure there's players that are stronger and faster but they play different positions. The only players that are in some ways similar to him are Cazares and Sornoza. Perhaps Miller. To be fair I was surprised Sornoza wasn't called up. He wasn't even called up in March for the friendly against Bolivia.
Nationalism is a big issue we'll have to deal with, but Kitu is a nationalized Ecuadorian citizen, and as a result, he is Ecuadorian plain and simple. I'm not sure why we should try to make a distinction between born-and-raised and nationalized...once they take the oath, they are one of us. We'd be chomping at the bit to bring some of the Ecuadorian-Spaniard and Ecuadorian-Italian kids to the seleccion if they were interested despite them being EU nationals first. We should promote inclusivity. How much discrimination to nationalized Ecuadorians experience abroad whether they live in Spain, Italy, the US, etc...Ecuadorians should not be perpetuating that same issue.
It the whole they took our job aspect of it. A foreigner is taking the spot of one of our own. Again it would have been nice if Cazares, Bolanos, Sornoza could have lived up to their NT potential. They are younger faster stronger overall had better careers. But Diaz has shown good use of his skill sets in the NT.
Same. More and more U20 players are integrating in the NT. Lets hope they bring back that magic from that U20 champions.
Finally we scored!!We re looking better,but Mena needs to step up.Campana needed a little luck,but every ball he’s gotten,he has made it count ,we keep announcing our passes when attacking there’s no surprise,we need to work on making plays for our forwards,we seem to be relying in Pervis as a primary attacker.
Are u F ing kidding me,what a way to give the game away,2 defensive errors 2 goals.I’m sorry but Noboa is not up to the task anymore,guy looks as if has lead attached to his feet.I really don’t know why Alfaro didn’t bring in Diaz as a playmaker ,I’m sure he would have fed some passes to Campana and Plata,Alfaro keeps choosing to attack from Pervis’side,while it was somewhat successful in first half,we run out of ideas once it stops working and then our forwards are just being wasted.I think Campana needs another chance as he took whatever was thrown his way and made it count,that goalkeeper took his gol away and the other chances he had at least he kicked towards the goal,which I haven’t seen the last 3 games.
I’ve been saying that since that trip against Peru. that man has a knack of being out of position or fumbling the ball consistently. it’s really sad how far this team has fallen. You can feel how lost they are just by how long they hold that ball. If I’m a South American coach I know I just have to sit back and let ecuador lay an egg like usual. We have no depth, and our defense is horrible at tracking back on counters - so every game is just a matter or time before you get a clear shot against our keeper.
Yep,teams are aware of this already,I brace myself every time I see a counter,knowing that some one would F up.
I would also bench Mendez. His laziness cost us the first goal and he kept holding onto the ball too much. It's time for Alfaro to send a clear message to this team: if you aren't performing, you will be benched.