It has to be said that It's amazing how quick our CBs have adapted to European futbol as well. IDV have done a hell of a job in making them well rounded players.
Consistency is key, this win vs Colombia is historic and amazing 11v11 i think we could’ve won more comfortably, but this all means nothing if we drop the ball in March. We struggle to get points in this last portion of qualifying. The stage is set for Ecuador to start showing they are a top team. I think Beccacece has found an XI that works. Plata, Minda, Vite, Ordóñez and Yeboah compliment the team a lot better. These are players that can create and score and we need this sorely. Glad that Kendry wasn’t forced into the XI we played a lot better. Curious to see how Preciado will fit in at RB and how the team dynamic is. U20WCQ are in January so it’s another opportunity to showcase talent. But it would be nice if we could go deep this U20WC and not waste a chance at being a top 3 team. No one remembers the guys who crashed out in the first round.
I’m looking forward to the U20 tournament. There’s some depth and intriguing names at certain positions: GK - Loor, Jhafets Christ CB - Bautista, Bagüi, Arcos, Collahuazo, Sangoquiza Midfield - Rodríguez, Reyes, Borja, Ochoa, Guagua Wingers - Govea, Gipson Preciado, Klinger, Bruno Caicedo, Ronald Perlaza Other positions don’t have depth: Striker - Obando FBs - Ruiz
For FW we also Michael Bermudez and Jeremy Arevalo. Jeremy on his debut season 22/23 managed to score and assist a few times and played mostly as a ST after that he has been playing more on the wings but we should definitely focuse on playing him up front.
For full backs I think we will be playing Ruiz and Luis Moreno. Luis Moreno is a CB but has played in every defensive position I can think of. Both left and right full back, wing back, CB and CDM. I'll assume it will be ruiz on left and Moreno on right other than that we have no more full backs.
Looking at the tabla de posiciones...I need to remind everyone, every time, that we had 3 points taken from the NT. Without arguing the legitimacy to that claim, it is pretty impressive that could have been the difference between in 2nd and 3rd place right now. That is a nice achievement.
I think Jesus Polo would be the RB. There’s no depth behind Ruiz and Polo tho. I remember Cucharita Caicedo being part of the U17 squad but I haven’t heard much about him this season.
Something interesting to consider is the importance of climbing up in the FIFA rankings. I dont think its possible to get into Pot 1 in the time remaining but being in POT 2 has its perks, doesn't hurt to have an easier group. There are are some "preferable opponents" to be drawn with in POT 1. These are what the POTs would look like assuming highest ranking teams qualify. POT 1: CAN,MEX,USA,ARG,FRA,SPA,ENG,BRA,BEL,POR,NED,ITL POT 2: COL,GER,CRO,MOR,URU,JPN, SUI, IRN,SEN,DEN,KOR,AUT POT 3: AUS,UKR,ECU,SWE,WAL,EGY,NGA,ALG,PER,PAN,CIV,VEN, POT 4: QAT,TUN,CAM,CRC,IRQ,UZB,RSA,CRC,JAM,NZL,MAL,HON POT 1 ideally drawing with any of the hosts is what we want, then id favor my chances with Belguim and Portugal while wanting to avoid France, Spain, England, Netherlands and Italy. In POT 2 we would avoid being drawn with teams who can be darkhorses and being put in a group of death. In POTs 3-4 contain opponents we "should" be able to beat.
Jefferson Perez to Daniel Pintado. "El mejor momento de mi carrera no fue cuando gane una medalla olímpica fue cuando vi alguien más hacer lo."