^^^ Now that you mention it? I agree, Plata shouldn’t start. This seems like the kind of game that would benefit of him coming in at the 60 min mark.
I personally would go 4-3-3. Galindez; Angelo, Torres, Hincapie, Estupiñan; Gruezo, Cifu, Moises; Plata, Enner, Estrada. The battle is going to be in the midfield. Cifu and Moises can help Gruezo en la marca. They're also play makers. For the second half I would want to see Ibarra and Mena.
I actually think this would be an interesting decision. Strategically speaking, it would be useful to bring on Plata when everyone is softened up. That means we'd need to keep another pair of fresh (and creative) legs for Plata to team up with.
I blocked off on my outlook calendar for two hours so no one bothers me at work. Don't know how you guys feel but I'm anxious and nervous.
Same...it's such a huge game. I'm hopeful our lads will rise to the occasion. Seeing how other teams are playing in different gives me general hope that if we can pass our group, anything can happen in the next rounds. Everyone looks beatable. In contrast to other WC's where there were a few standouts who just seemed unbeatable.
Plata has had his moments but he hasn't played to the best of his abilities. Ibarra is better used playing on the left. If Plata doesn't start then I would go with Mena.
They're also missing some key players - Kante, Benzema. France and Brazil are the two teams I wouldn't want to face.
Im seeing The yt rumored line up was Enner on right Estrada in the middle Ibarra on the left. I feel like Mena has dropped alot in form due to age. I don't see him getting much playing time in the WC tbh. Rodriguez and Sarmiento are our main guys to rotate.
Sarmiento hasn't impressed me. He's been active in the minutes he's gotten but his decision making has been poor. I've liked what I've seen from Rodriguez.
Posible 11 🇪🇨🙌4-3-3 así estuvo practicando la Tri para mañana conseguir la clasificación a octavos🙌 Galindez Preciado Torres Hincapie EstupiñanGruezo o Cifuentes CaicedoFranco Plata Enner Estrada#Vamosconfe #SiSePuede pic.twitter.com/jeh3qswByt— Jocelyn Vera (@jocelynvera95) November 28, 2022 She doesn't miss with her lineup predictions. If Gruezo is fit then he'll get the start. If not it'll be Cifuentes.
We also haven't seen much from Cifuentes, but if he gets enough minutes, I really hope he can do something with it. There's a talent who deserves a goal and looks at Europe. Franco has also been sitting on the bench, and he could get rotated in if need be. The challenge I see is the situation with Plata- as The Machine mentioned before, we haven't seen him play to the best of his abilities, which is a downer, but he hasn't been terrible either. He's also poised to have a breakout game. He needs it. Mena, is the sad outlier....his drop in form is actually a few months in the making. He has the freshest legs along with Franco who literally have seen zero minutes. That's ok. If called upon, he knows what is expected from a veteran, but this game seems like it'll be blow for blow/box to box, which makes transition defending absolutely critical. Senegal is going to be a very physical test for us. Hopefully our guys can absorb the blows and play smartly to our strengths. Thus far, Senegal has allowed 3 goals in 2 games. I'm not sure if looking better than the Netherlands counts as much b/c Senegal looked pretty strong against them for swaths of the match and conceding 2 late goals might be a factor of mental collapse more than actually being inherently inferior on the pitch. Qatar netting 1 goal was more of a surprise, but in this game, Senegal's defense was pretty suspect. Lots of unknowns as we enter this match. If we win, we're in (with class). If we tie, we're in (squeaking by). Hopefully we can take 1st place with a Qatar victory over the Netherlands (what a crazy scene that would be).
It's honestly for the best. Regardless of qualifying or not. We've seen the ceiling with our players under Alfaro's leadership. It's a huge step up from where we were, but is it good enough with our talent pool? He's basically rebuilt the team from scratch, which we're all eternally grateful for. We know his faults and his virtues, but this is now a time to start considering bringing in another coach who can elevate this squad to the next level- that's the "elite" level we all want to be at it. It's a new cycle with a new mindset which will require a fresh set of eyes and a new tactical vision. The track record (pros): -Qualifying 4th in CONMEBOL (We were in 3rd for a long stretch of the tournament) -WC To date: 1 Win and 1 draw The track record (cons): -A goal drought that affected the end of qualifiers + 5 friendlies after WCQ -Copa America (we just can't hack it in the tournament) The next coach will be expected to take this team deep into the Copa America, qualify for the 2026 WC with a direct berth, and make a run in the WC if we qualify. We've also seen what happens with re-signed coaches after WC's - Bolillo was chased out of Ecuador, LFS was chased out of Ecuador, Reinaldo Rueda was chased out of Ecuador. Quinteros - forget about it. Continuity is challenging, and this is a VERY taxing process. I wouldn't be surprised if he sees the writing on the wall, too. He might elect to leave on a high note instead of repeating prior failures from other coaches.
I don’t know man, we should also look what is being done behind closed doors. Next coach should have a good track record and that’s gonna be expensive and knowing FEF we are going with the cheapest option. Also who is Gabriel Wainer? He seems to be a key part of the project. He seems to have worked with teams that have qualified to WC.
The way I look at Alfaro flaws were mostly due to him experimenting in the entire wcq, Copa America and the 5 friendlies prior to the WC. And even in the WC he made a gamble (Rodriguez).To me that shows he wants to do a long term process. If he continues in another cycle I expect to see him cut the experiments and focuse on getting this team to it max potential. Meaning we will know who our 11 will be. The players will know each other and have solid chemistry. And he will stop aiming to hold those 1-0 /2-0 leads. No more sitting back and seeing what the other team does with the ball. There is a good road for us in the future. The next Copa America will be at home and the next WC will have more slots. We can finally try to really win a Copa America and still qualify for the next WC as well. If he continues a next cycle he will have the merits to accompany him in this nt.
Regardless of what happens, we owe Alfaro a lot. I was opposed to him in the beginning due to his "overly defensive" style at Boca Juniors but he came here and completely changed that narrative. Yes we play great defense but we play possession well to the point that if we had better finishers we would be steamrolling teams easily. There's also our criticism of his constant experimenting but you know what? It paid off based on how we've been playing in this world cup. He's been able to make the team play different formations well and it's a world of difference compared to the last Copa America where we were leaking goals left and right. If Alfaro goes, then the next coach already has a good start because Alfaro set up the base but if Alfaro stays then I'm sure he'll be okay since he now has a grasp on the qualifier format as well as the short tournament format.
Against Qatar he did great recovering the ball and moving it up but against Holland he was too selfish. I hope Alfaro lectured him on that and told him the priority is to move the ball up, not hold possession.
I think Alfaro has earned the benefit of the doubt. He started Moises Caicedo against Argentina in Buenos Aires. He started Piero Hincapie in the Copa America. He stuck with Torres even after Arboleda regained fitness. He stuck with Enner even though he went through a goal scoring drought. Some of his gambles haven't paid off - playing three CBs against Venezuela, overly defensive strategies in crucial games. If Alfaro stays on as DT Ecuador will remain a strong squad. Would they reach their ultimate potential? Perhaps not. I've said this in the past but the man for the job if Alfaro were to leave is Guillermo Almada.
Adidas have confirmed no contact was made between the World Cup matchball and Cristiano Ronaldo, thanks to a 500Hz IMU sensor and Connected Ball Technology housed in Adidas’s Al Rihla used in the tournament…
What a pivotal moment in our history. This could in fact bring us a notch on where we stand in the eyes of many football fans. Ecuador is solid team who brings the pain when they qualify instead of - oh yeah they’re the team with a flag similar to Colombia. I purposely scheduled tasks during the game to avoid giving it full attention. I’ll watch in the background but this is more nerve wracking than the qualifiers - even though technically speaking this is still during “learning phase” and all this is extra. whatever happens I hope the guys get a lifelong futbol experience from it.