Damn since I started caring about world cups I've never had to see an eliminated ecuador before the big party. What am I supposed to do now? I have no job, no wife, no car, no house, no pride. AHHHHHHHHHHHH... You guys might see me on top of the George Washington on the 6 o'clock news. . . Lol
Same...it's the first world cup that I will not see Ecuador in since I follow deep into soccer. It's such a shame, I basically grew up watching us in our days of glory. I hope people now realize I didn't call out Benitez a million times, or La Sombra b/c I have something personal against them. I was stating facts that I saw match after match. The bad thing in Ecuador is that sometimes our coaches give each player TOO much confidence. Benitez along with Caicedo were given beyond the normal amount of opportunities that they should have been given. Same with Espinoza and even Hurtado. You can only go so far, but like they say in our NT "algunos jugadores tienen los puestos comprados"...and this Qualifier was the perfect example of that. I remember when Suarez said "la capitania se debe pasar a Mendez" and everyone in Ecuador hated him for saying that b/c he basically thought it was time for Hurtado to go ,OBVIOUSLY b/c of his age. Now I understand what the man was trying to do. But I guess some of the players did not want a renovation and that's why the chemistry b/t Suarez and our players did not work out at the beginning of the Qualifier. I think Suarez was doing us a favor getting rid of those who should not have been part of our NT this Qualifier, but we(the players and the media) didn't quite understand that. But today is a new day, and it's time for a whole new renovation...I thank Hurtado, Cevallos, Espinoza, Reasco, Ambrossi, Urrutia, Elizaga, Mendez, Ayovi, and Carlos Tenorio for everything they've done for our NT...they will go down as great figures in my book. But it's time to move on and develope a new breed of players. Montero, Noboa, Valencia and Castillo DEFINITELY have this midfield on lock for the next Qualifier. I think Valencia should be the team captain....he's the man w/ the most garra, love, and futbol on the field. I seriously feel deeply sorry that he is not able to attend a WC. He seriously deserves to be playing in one. 3 defenders and one striker is all we need....
I can see how you all might be a bit spoiled. The 1st WC I remember was 1986 in Mexico. Truthfully, I did not follow Ecuador qualification until i actually moved there in 95. Until then, I only followed Germany and even that was very hard as internet news was kinda non-existant back then. I saw Ecuador miss out on 98 and was happy to see them make it in 2002 and 2006.
I agree with you on a few things, but we just can't start shedding all the old guard just so quickly. Mendez, Reasco, Ambrosi, Ayovi, and Tenorio should stay (at least through the Copa America) to help the younger guys on the way. Plus, old age isn't bad for all positions, some of the best midfielders are over 30 (Mendez showed yesterday he's still got a lot in the tank), and a guy like Inzhagi keeps playing and he's 36 and still putting it in the back of the net. Our aged defense is the first priority to get rid of and start fresh with Calderon first and foremost, I really think we need to build around him because he's 22 and has great experience from the Libertadores, CWC, and Peace Cup...then add Campos to replace la Sombra and look for Hurtado's replacement. We need to incorporate the new goalies like Dominguez and Banguera, but Elizaga still looked good behind the net, he can help our younger guys as well. Our midfield is very young. But our pressing concern is finding a goleador
I got into soccer during the 1994 World Cup. I supported Brazil from day one and was thrilled when they won. Then came MLS and the 98 eliminatorias. My dad always took me to Roosevelt Ave to watch the games in the bars. Ecuador had a great campaign back then, including the historic 2-0 win over Argentina. Up until the very last game, we still had a mathematical chance of qualifying. Not qualifying was really sad. And I guess 2 straight World Cups did spoils us a bit. This elimination is orders of magnitude worse than the last one.
I grew up watching the NT in glory with the two world cups... I have not known or have very minimal recollection of the NT not in a world cup... it is so strange and empty. But on the other hand I know I have a very strong selection and it somewhat fills me.
It was easier for me to accept this failure because; my expectations were low even after Vizuete came in and we thrashed Peru. I still believed we were far from being in good form. We kept on getting a break here and there with teams like Bolivia and Venezuela continuously taking points from our direct competitors. believe me, this should have ended a long time ago. Ecuador had a chance to finish 4 th not becuase of our own merit, but because of the other teams like Argebnitna, Colombia and Uruguay's failure to be consistent. When it was all in our hands, we blew it. We blew it twice in Quito. Against Venezuela and once we knew we could control our destiny vs. uruguay in Quito over the last weekend. We failed on both counts. The Argies didn't luck out. they did what Ecuador could not...score goals when it mattered.
I remember watching the '98 WCQ, and I have very vague memories of the '94 WCQ campaign although I did get the opportunity to watch the '94 WC back when I lived in Chicago
I don't think they had the ref's advantages to gain 6 points in the last two matches, did they? And as i recall, the ref didn't play a role in Venezuela's win in Quito, did it? You can sit and cry and blame the refs all you want. In the end, when you have 15 shots on goal and none go in, that isn't the ref's problem....it is our own.
Damn most of you guys are pretty young... I grew up when Ecuador sucked and my dad was always telling me don't dream too much because we will NEVER go to a world cup lol... I had always the faith within me and I knew we where gonna make it. Since I have memories (around 4 years old) I've been a football fanatic (not soccer, don't be retarded and fuel that stupid name ) The first world cup I witnessed was Spain 82', although I was 1 year old and I obviously don't remember anything lol, but my parents watched all the games so I technically saw it haha... The Mexico 86' World Cup happened wen I was 5 so I remember the semis and the final very clearly. The final was heartbreaking since my mom is German and I saw her crying and suffering after the 3-2 loss Then came Italy 90' and Germany got revenge! I was 9 and the whole German comunity in Quito went to celebrate to the amazonas, so I went with my mom and my aunt, I was so happy!!! Since the 90' World cup I have watched every game and I remember everything that happened. I also have all the panini world cup albums since Mexico 86' completed As you see I was used to see Ecuador sucking and making it to a World Cup was a utopia here.....many people believed we would never make it. I always had faith and I witnessed our rise since the early 90's, I live Barcelonas glory, I saw the first game that Ivan Hurtado played and Cevallos and pretty much all of them. When we qualified to the 2002 World Cup I couldn't stop crying, it wasa childhood dream come true and I knew we where gonna make it one day! I attended the 4 games that Ecuador played at the 2006 World Cup and that was the ultimate dream coming true!!! Oh yea, and I was in the stadium on that day you talk about, the first time we beat Argentina 2-0 in the Atahualpa with 2 goals of El Tanque Hurtado. I also attended to the Atahualpa to every game we played in the 93' Copa America, and to every home qualifying game of the 98' , 06' and 10' campaign. The 02' campaign I missed like half of the games cause I was going to College in Boston.
Lol...I'm 37. I was actually in Germany during the 86 and 90 WC and I went to see Ecuador play Costa Rica in Hamburg during the 2006 WC!!!
Being able to be present at that beautiful Hamburg stadium for that 3-0 win, was one of the happiest moments of my life Now that we failed, I will always have faith in my seleccion, and I will continue to follow the team throughout the world whenever I can and I will never give up on that. Just like I had to wait till I was 20 for our greatest moments of glory. I am sure we will mantain our level and I won't have to wait that long again. I have been with my team live in our worst and most glorious moments, que viva Ecuador!
There must be a huge German community in Ecuador. This weekend while going over some business I'm dealing with in Quito, I learned that we're working closely with a professor from Universidad San Francisco who has an German mother and got her degree in Germany.
Yes there is, I went to the German School in Quito till 7th grade (I got kicked out for disciplinary problems after that ) My mom is German, my grand and greatmother used to live here, as well as my aunt. So I've been part of the comunity since I was a child, and I know a lot of them. Many of them love Ecuador and stayed here. Ecuador is a great place to live, and many foreginers love it. I know probably around 50 german families in Quito and it's surroundings. And there's many more. Something funny, I am also a Professor at the San Francisco University and I also have a German mother lol...
Mi analisis del partido, por si desean hecharle un vistazo : https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19036128&postcount=63
During the game, when Ecuador got close to scoring. I wanted a Chile victory: something my NT had not been able to do over Ecuador since '96. I am not one of those "I could care less now that since we qualified"-fans.