I've watched Ecuador a number of times since qualifying ended and I'm not impressed. I think they are one of the weaker teams in Qatar. I was actually shocked how poor they were considering their impressive record in conmebol qualifying. My Nigeria team took them on with a half strength team and we lost 1-0 courtesy of a goal in the first minute header. Estupinan lost his marker (a player earning his first cap that wouldn't even make an entire 3rd Nigerian 23) After that goal we could have literally scored 4 or 5 goals but finishing was horrific. We completely dominated the match, and Ecuador offered next to nothing in attack. On another day, even with a less than half full squad we would have beaten Ecuador by 3 or 4 goals, that's how poor they were. I then watched them against Cape Verde, a team you could say may barely be in CAFs top 20, and all that separated these 2 teams was a dodgy penalty kick. The Cape Verde team was also at half strength. Against Saudi Arabia I saw no literal difference between the 2 teams in a game that ended in a 0-0 draw. I dont think they are anywhere near as good as Elo and even my own rankings have given them, mainly for the reasons I have earlier identified. My rankings have them at #13, and I think you'd have to add another 20 to get closer to where they truly are.
The truth is if Ecuador win a game in Qatar they'll have already exceeded expectations. Advancing to the knockouts would be the icing on the cake. When was the last time a CONMEBOL team wasn't expected to win any game in its group? I can't remember any side in the 32 team era.
From what I've seen I would have to say imo the 3 worst teams at this WC are Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador. Netherlands and Senegal got very, very, very lucky. First match day between the 2 are more than likely for 1st place.
Cameroon fielded a strong lineup against Uzbekistan recently in the September window in neutral venue (pretty empty stadium in Korea) . This was one of only 2 games they have played against teams outside of CAF in a long time (the other one their loss to S. Korea). Uzbekistan would go on to lose its other match in the September window 2:1 to Costa Rica, even if their only other match against a non-AFC team besides these 2 had been their 4:0 thrashing of Uganda in March. From what I saw in their 2:0 loss to Uzbekistan, something has to change drastically if Cameroon are to even earn a point in a rather difficult group in Qatar.
Ecuador dominated vs Saudi Arabia, they missed three 1v1 situations on the first half. Ecuador had double the shots and more possession. I remember watching first half vs Nigeria and it was an even match with situations for both sides. Stats confirm this and show both sides had almost equal possession and shots. I didn't watch vs Cabo Verde so nothing to say on that.
I dont expect much from Cameroon tbh but it's nothing to do with these recent friendlies and more to do with their style and history at world cups. The team that played the 2 recent friendlies was without thier 2 best players (Zambo Anguissa who is a player that would literally start for almost any team in the world, and their top striker Ekambi) Even considering that they experimented with a back 3 and a completely new midfield against Uzbekistan. It was back to their normal formation and a more stable midfield against Korea. Still without their 2 best players they were able to get a better result away to Korea than Iran got in WCQ.
I believe those stats are misleading as there was only one chance Ecuador had to score, near the end of the match. The other shots were likely weak efforts from far out. The shots on goal don't take I to account a number of shots from Nigeria (a couple of sitters) that didn't even hit the target. Ecuador did not spend much of their possession in any threatening positions, while we literally missed 4 or 5 easy chances in that game. A statistic that Nigeria dominated something like 14 to 2 was corner kicks, which to me is indicative of a lopsided game in terms of actual dangerous attacks. Either way I was highly disappointed with Ecuadors play, and I'm fully confident a full strength Nigeria would beat them fairly easily. (Not necessarily meaning a heavy scoreline, but dominance of the game)
Cameroon's starting 11 against Uzbekistan was pretty much the same as the one against S. Korea. I checked it before posting my message. As for Iran, we have played S. Korea numerous times. Finished above them in each of the last 3 WCQs. The only competitive game we have ever lost to S. Korea in Korea is the one you seem to want to highlight! A virtual dead rubber game in which Iran was deprived of half of its starters due to Covid and suspensions ...
I feel we have some god awful teams in this World Cup. Probably more so than in Russia 2018. The bottom six seven sides are just terible and useless. I wonder if we'll have more 0 point finishers than usual. Historically it's been always 2-3 teams.
From a completely neutral perspective, while watching Nigeria v Ecuador I kept thinking how dominant Nigeria was and how unbelievable unlucky they were. I know I know, bad finishing isn't bad luck or whatever cliche bs is supposed to be said.
Which teams are the seven sides that are useless? I think we will still see some surprises at the beginning, courtesy of having the tournament during mid-season and the fact that many teams (especially from groups A-D) are going to be training together for less than a week before the start of the tournament.
Give me a couple of hours. I will post tomorrow my grade list of all 32 teams. I'm still watching some matches in order to have a better idea of some teams. I really see a big gap from say the first 22-23 teams to the rest. At this point my worst teams might get a C- or even D+ grade.
Ofcourse not. It's like when Messi fans try to add to his international trophies by including the Olympics. GTFO with that sh*t. Youth tournaments are fun but they never count. For the record, I believe Messi is a better player than Ronaldo.
Ecuador also looked good in their last friendly against Japan. They created some good chances. In the most recent window, their play has been fine; their finishing has not.
That's true but that's not an uncommon theme with Ecuador at all. They are awful at taking their chances. An ageing Enner Valencia is still the best what they have to offer upfront. At the World Cup usually you don't get that many chances. Odds are that Ecuador will fail to score these.
I agree I think Kam is going overboard here. I dont think the bottom 6 or 7 are as bad as he is making them out to be.
Results which are aberrations can be explained away even if the explanation might not be the right one. But when a side is consistently getting poor results, you can't chuck it to bad luck. For whatever reason, Nigeria has been in a slump. After losing to Tunisia in AFCON and failing to qualify to the World Cup at the hands of Ghana, they have lost to every half decent side they have played: lost to a Mexico that has been otherwise losing a lot of their own games recently; lost to an Ecuador team that has only managed to score and beat another CAF team, Cape Verde, recently; and lost to Algeria as well. That is just too many poor results even if none showed Nigeria rubbish. But they all showed Nigeria failing to get the job done.
Chile have had a similair string of poor results lately. These are two nations that are disappointed about not being in Qatar and are in the process to build a new generation from scratch.
I do somewhat agree with what you say. There are numerous problems with our team, the main being that we have a goalkeeping crisis. Of the 5 opponents you mention, 3 of them we failed because of very cheap goals 2 of our top keepers conceded. Algeria, Ghana, and Tunisia. All 3 of these teams scored goals from very far out the goalkeeper should have dealt with.Against both Ghana and Tunisia we were easily the better side, but also failed to score, despite the goalkeeping blunder. Yes the team is in a slump, but a team is going nowhere with a crap keeper.
Chile and Nigerias situations are nothing similar. Chile is old and they need to build a new team. Nigeria is anything but old. This generation can still make noise in 2026.
You succmbed to the Argentina hype like many people out there. Argentina has no business to be ranked and graded as highly as you did. And the popular opinion that Brazil and Argentina are the two biggest favourites to win in Qatar is a misconception. I agree about Brazil but not about Argentina. UEFA has several teams that are better than Argentina.