The concern with Gruezo might be the harsh memories of the games where he played badly and cost us possession and perhaps goals. I always thought Gaibor would have locked that position up, but I'll still defer and say that Gruezo should get the start if it means Noboa can be more creative. We need him to shine.
Come on Ecuador. I'll be watching tonight's game. Guys, if you have some good streams, feel free to post them. Good news is that I will watch every game of Copa America on my TV. Greetings from your diehard fan in Croatia.
I'm watching it a bit behind since I just got home from work. You can't expect much from this team right now. They hardly played together. No friendlies before this. Plus, E. Valencia sucks so bad this first half. No wonder he doesn't start anymore. He needs to wake up asap. Jose Angulo is coming for your spot.
This team sucks ass. Enner Valencia is freaking horrible. Doesn't do shit, gets pushed around like a rag doll, don't shoot when he suppose to, makes terrible passes, and somehow got slower. Seriously. Please bring Jose Angulo. Mena. Stay home and never ever come back to the NT. Montero finally did some things but was all alone. Enner sucked so bad and didn't provide any help. Gruezo was alright. Nothing special. Ramirez was okay as well. Mina please replace Achilier already. Achilier cannot be out starting defensive mid anymore.
Please no more emelec players.. they haven't been playing good lately.. does quinteros even follow Ecuadorian futbol? Did he not see Emelec get raped by Barcelona 5 - 0 ???? And not to mention their early exit in LA Copa libertadores????
We ain't making it out the group stages of Copa america.. but I could care less about CA.. I just hope we can qualify to Russia.. Quinteros better use CA as a test, for September. I'm starting to miss sixto vizuete again, maybe he would have called the right players. I feel like quinteros is too biased.. he puts to much confidence in certain players, instead of calling up the ones who are actually doing good. If you guys check out the list of 23.. only 1 player from IDV is called.. he didn't call azcona, orejuella, sornoza, angulo.. are you kidding me? Also does the DT even know J Plata exists?? he is the best player in MLS!!! and you call gruezo instead??!!
But to be fair, this was a new team. you could sense there was little to no chemistry between them.. once Montero and noboa came off, I knew we were screwed.. also achiller was captain for a moment.. lol really?
Wait I just noticed something.. where's Renato Ibarra? He should have been called up instead of Angel Mena
Couple thoughts about the game: 1) The FEF scheduled the game poorly. I don't want to make excuses for Quinteros but the team didn't have many days to practice. The guys who play in Ecuador played on Friday while the guys that play abroad played either Saturday (A. Valencia, Noboa, Gruezo, Arroyo) or Sunday (Erazo, Cazares, Bolanos). Taking into account travel time and recovery time, I would say the entirety of the team had one full practice session. Two at most if you count Tuesdays walkthrough. This was evident in the lack of chemistry the team showed. Again not making excuses but the team would have been better served with some extra practice time. Montero and Ramirez played indecent on an individual level but they didn't connect in the manner that we've seen Montero and Ayovi connect. i saw no overlaps or underlaps. Similar case with Mena and Paredes. 2) I liked what I saw from Ramirez and Gruezo. Sucks that Gruezo got injured. Don't know the severity of the injury but there's a chance he might miss the tournament. 3) We missed A. Valencia and Caicedo. Mena is a decent player but I don't think he's a player you start and play the 90 minutes on the international level against a quality opponent. Mena's the type you put in towards the end of the game if you want to inject some pace. In the first half the majority of our attacks came through the left. The right flank was non existent. The US adapted in second half and didn't give Montero any more space. Had Valencia played it would have no doubt been a different. We're always going to be a team that plays through the wings. Both flanks need to be threats though. Enner struggles against big physical CB's. That's the knock on him in the PL. He can get away playing striker in Ecuador and Mexico where the defenders aren't as big perhaps and the style of play is less physical. Brooks used his size and strength to shut Enner out. 4) Worst player to me was Paredes. Best word to describe his performance would be lackluster. Didn't push forward all that much and the few times he did he seemed tentative. His defense was also horrific. Wood bested him a couple of times in the second half.
Another thing is that part of me is glad that Quinteros did not call Independiente players (A least not now) they have been playing a lot and some of their fatigue is noticeable. Mina almost got injured during his game against Pumas he was getting muscle cramps near the end. So they should rest big time to avoid injuries cause they been playing really hard lately.
I have to agree that Paredes, Valencia, and Mena were the worse players on the field. Paredes in particular looked as if he had never played professionally. No idea how he's made it to the Premier League... First touch is horrible, looks uncomfortable when he has the ball, and gives away needless fouls/chances. Unfortunately, his day's are numbered in England. Valencia on the other hand, I've been following him throughout his West Ham campaign and has looked out of it for the last couple of months... Could be injury related or just lack of confidence. One thing that I also have noticed is that he is not taking advantage of his main attributes which are his leaping abilities and powerful shot. His problem lately is that he spends most of the time on the floor or complaining about fouls, instead of exploiting his strengths. We need him to shape up if we are planning to have a successful Copa run. I won't even comment about Mena, as I haven't been following him that closely and may have just had an off game. The US looked overall relatively weak and vulnerable, yet Ecuador could not exploit the advantages that their opponents were offering them. Very disappointing!
Once again we lost the game late into the match. My thoughts- to the point that some people have mentioned: Quinteros definitely has a soft spot for Emelec as he was DT there, and it's not necessarily a bad thing if the team performs well or maybe even at an average level. To be honest, we've been lost for 3 games now- no identity, lots of injuries, and no real sense of urgency. He calls the same guys, and I think their performances are reinforcing what we're saying- Mena is not a 90 mins guy, and might not belong on the NT; Achilier is not NT material; Enner is losing credibility fast, and he needs to shape up quickly; and Paredes needs to shape up. I'm also of the impression that besides our team changing some players up, we also just need an injection of energy and reality into our game. I feel like there's no heart right now.
I was thinking the same thing while watching the game. With the exception of Ramirez, Gruezo, Noboa, and to a slightly lesser extent Montero I saw no heart or sense of urgency. And as you've said it's been going on for three games now. We keep making excuses for the team though. In the WCQ we blamed it on injuries. This time around we also didn't have a full team. That's what I want to believe. But maybe, just maybe, a lot of the players lost that drive and motivation when it comes to the NT. Guys like Enner, Paredes, Bolanos, Erazo might feel as if they've made it. Perhaps in the past they saw the NT as an channel where they can showcase their talent and maybe get signed by a foreign team. Now that they play in competitive and well paying leagues they might not care about the NT as much anymore. There's no doubt in my mind that some guys have to go. We have young guys like Aimar, Caicedo, Segovia, and Arboleda that are hungry and waiting for their chance. Ditto on guys like Cabezas and Jose Angulo.
The problem in my opinion is leadership. Who is the leader of the team? A. Valencia? Erazo? Dominguez? W. Ayovi? I don't really see them as big leaders. They are not outspoken. They don't have a big resume (only A. Valencia) that can say... "Hey I know how to play in the big stage. You need to stop messing around and start playing hard or gtfo". Until someone steps up and become a big, noticeable alpha male, a captain and a leader, then we are going to have games where players slack off. A coach can do so much but we need leaders in the field. That is why young players are better sometimes because they are easier to mold and they listen more.
Can't really say who the leader of the team is. There's a lot we don't see. Stuff that happens behind closed doors when the cameras are off. My guess would be Noboa, A. Valencia, and/or W. Ayovi. Noboa I think is more of an outspoken leader. W. Ayovi leads by example and Valencia is a combination of both.