I know the world cup is only just over for Ecuador.. but I can't help but feeling a little worried again (maybe its my obligation as an Ecuadorean). During the 90s Colombia had a team that could have gone deep into the tournament with players like Faustino Asprilla, Valderrama, Freddy Rincon to name the big 3. When my Colombian friend's talk about the years after 98 and before 2002 the main reason they give for Colombia failing was that the players did not respect the shirt... they didn't go all out for their country anymore. But the fact of the matter is it was never going to be easy to replace the star players they lost. Hurtado and De la Cruz will be retired... 40 years old by 2010. And they are both very important players. And Reasco and Espinoza will be old old old by then too. Edison Mendez will be 35, still young enough to play for a club team maybe. Carlos Tenorio and Ivan Kaviedes will both be in their early 30s. Do you think Suarez will still be our coach for Copa America? And do you think he will use it as one last chance for our old guard to play or will he use it to try and figure out some new players for qualifying?
i had a bad dream bout this last night lol....then i realized how we are progressing.... we have valencia, borja, saritama, urrutia, salas, reasco, mendez, mora, lanza, perlaza, guagua, and a slew of talent that needs to be cultivated in these next few years before 2010.....
hey, just to let u knowm hurtado and espinosa and dlc will not be 40, neither will mendez, r u crazy!!? Mendez and Espinosa are not even 30 yet, so ofcourse they will still be there. We got a lot of talent in our roster, so I wouldn't be too worried. look what we are able to do without the great alex. individual talent doesn't always win it, it is a team, and we got a good one in the making. guys like Valencia, Mora, Castillo, Salas, Mina, Kaviedes, the Tenorio's, Reasco, Felipe Caicedo, Guagua, Lara, Saritama, Borja... I am sure more names will arise. new talent is always dsicovered, so let's see what happens, but don't be such a pessimistic.
DLC, and Hurtado will be 36. Thats all kinds of old. Espinosa and Kaviedes will be 33. Mendez will be 31 and so will Carlos Tenorio.. I know we've got two young players playing in Europe right now. And Mina, who is still only 22, in MLS. So we ought to be able to put out some offensive players. The one position we ought to be well placed in is goal-keeper. I just hope that we've got young players playing at home that I haven't heard of... we're losing alot of defensive players. I can't wait for Copa America. Even a friendly at this point. Anything.
alot of bright talent seems to be coming out of emelec's younger teams...my uncle was telling me bout them and im pretty excited about it... will la metralla make the next wc?
the logical answer would be that we must concentrate on the upcoming copa america. its in 2007, in venezuela i believe......
I really don't think so. I think Copa America could be a good place to judge the lineup for 2010 qualifying. If we put out the same team we did for the WC next year we could do pretty well... but then what would we do for qualifying? Use this same team for the first year or so and then slowly blood new players? I dunno. To be honest... I think Ecuador should come to the U.S. to play some "celebration" friendlies just so I can watch them and be less worried for a bit.
Ecuador's main priority should be to develop the youth players. As a matter of fact, there is a sort of "try-out" going on right now for a sub-17 tourny in Paraguay (I don't know when it's going to take place). If my memory serves me right, Ecuador has not done so well in sub-17 and sub-20 tournaments. Anyway, when you think of the big teams in South America like Argentina, you'd see that many of their current players have been world champions in the youth division. Most of them get contracts with European teams at the end of such tournaments as well. In my opinion, the success of Ecuadorian football will depend on how well the youth talent is developed, and whether or not they can go to European clubs to get the much needed "World" experience. Ecuador does not have to re-invent the wheel. Argentina and Brazil have a success model in place. Develop world class youth players, win youth tournaments, and get European club contracts. Easier said than done, but if the Ecuadorians want it bad enough, they can get it. If you really think about it, that is what seperates Argentina and Brazil from the rest.
i consider it this way...teams like argentina and brazil are like high end designer clothing while ecuador is up and coming...wat separates us is brand recognition or in this case country recognition...if ecuador can successfully build a strong 17's, 18's, 19's and 20's team then our rep and brand recogniton will increase...
One little note on Colombia. I think that their problem wasn't just that their players didn't "respect the shirt"; that is a simplistic way of looking at it. They had a really good run from 1990 to 1998 and were a solid team for a short time after, but it all started to unravel. Personally, I don't know of any players other than Angel playing in Europe. Maybe some of you can let me know if there is someone else. Either way, it goes back to what I said earlier. I don't think there has been much in the way of developing youth players. I have heard of them participating in youth tournaments, but I don't know if they have "followed-up". Maybe one of our Colombian friends can share some light.
Youth success for Portugal sure has translated into alot. Its not the be all and end all. But we do need to start finding players to fill in the VERY real and very important defensive positions. If you look at the qualifiers for the last 8 years the ones we lost were almost all by one goal, the ones we won were usually by one goal. We need our defense to be solid. Which is why I think Copa America is a good place to introduce new players into the team.
Well...it looks like Ecuador has been invited to participate in the next Copa De Oro. Should be fun to watch!
Angel A villa - England Edixon Perea Nantes - France Yepes Paris Saint Germain - France Aguilar and Zapata Udinese (U21 players) - Italy libis Arenas (U21 goal Keeper) Lazio - Italy Cordoba Inter Milan - Italy Perea Atletico Madrid - Spain Cordoba and Mondragon in Turkey Those are the most representatives, and also a whole bunch of players playing in Spain in teams as cadiz, Levante etc as every other country that has repectable Futbol players (Obviously here is not included Ecuador, I think Venezuela has more players there) I wrote down the names of the countries just for you ignorant!!
sadly even with quality players on star studded teams u still havent been able to classify....if u cannot translate talent into results then its nothing...results r wat matters...so what if our NT does not have many intl players because we can still win games against international opponents and play as a team and maintain good results and standing...colombia in that respect have been huge disappointments along with peru because both countries have class act players who cannot function on the national team...this is a problem and one that will cost you dearly
I wish Ecuador had respectable futbol players like Colombia.. that way we could make it to the round of 16 like Colombia. Mighty mighty Colombia.
Maybe sometime you will have the succesess that Colombia has had in the last 15 or 20 years, although is very unlikely. That way you will stop being wannabe's.
Exactly. That would rock... considering in FOUR tries (1962, 1990, 1994, 1998) Ecuador only has THREE wins against the powerhouses from Tunisia, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates, and just once made the second round courtesy of finishing 3rd above the United Arab Emirates. Whereas the mighty Colombians have won 3 games in just two world cups, beating Poland, Croacia, and Costa Rica.. before losing by one goal to an England team they could have well beaten. If only we could be like Colombia.
What a sad, jealous, little individual this guy is! It's funny how he comes in here talking smack. Here is a guy that watched this world cup imagining that the "amarillo azul y rojo" that was on TV was Colombia instead of Ecuador. Sorry buddy. Talk all the smack you want. You're only as good as your last world cup appearance. When was that for your team?? What?? 98?? Damn! Pretty long ago! I'm sure the world really remembers that! By the way...I remember England completely beating the crap out of your team. I also remember some of your players crying like little girls out on the field. How many games did Colombia even win that World Cup? How many did they win in 94?? I'll tell you...they won a whopping 2 games in two world cups! Colombia....success the last 15 or 20 years?? Come on man! Check yourself before you come in here talking little shi**!
now now... don't forget the UAE. they really slaughtered the UAE. I think it was like 2 to 0 or something.
yeah, when ecuador participated in the '94 world cup after finishing first in group qualifying ahead of argentina and beating them 5-0 at home in buenos aires. They were also clear favorites entering the tournament to bad they received death threats to their families sure ecuador have produced player like valderrama, rincon, asprilla, cordoba, mondragon, higuita... man just shut the ******** up