Yeah the kids missed the net like 4 clear times, 2 of them warranted a quick pass for an easier finish.
Have the Ecuadawgs been keeping tabs on this Robert Arboleda fiasco? Talk about insanity. Thank goodness he is far far far far faaaaaaar away from the seleccion at this moment. It appears the dude went from defensive talisman to an absolute villain almost overnight. TBH, Good riddance. Apologies to Sao Paulo fans, too- this is just beyond the pale.
El Diablito Lara was arrested. https://www.primicias.ec/deportes/futbol/policia-detiene-diablo-christian-lara-119859/ I’ll never forget that goal vs Argentina, but an entire legacy is marred by association with gangs and robbing legitimate businesses. Sad.
We are lucky we have the CB's we do lol Between him and Lara its crazy ha Are we watching the kids vs Uruguay? Its been a back and forth game, Uruguay might win this 2-1 though.
I watched the 2nd half. It was a showcase for individual talent but not much coaching went into the squad. Not sure if we'll qualify for WC in the next phase.
Yeah I agree with this take I was definitely wrong (gladly) .but this team is doing well because of individual prowess more than collective effort
The pieces are there,Ordóñez es un crack tipo Pacho,the Quintero twins and few others.first game they played terrible ,so many blunders from the goalkeeper ,missed goals I honestly don’t know how they pulled of a win lol.they gotten a little better ,we’ll see just how much in second phase.I feel for Peru ,they’re really struggling in all their categories,Bolivia just put a hurting on them.
I've been thinking of something lately if for some reason, none of our prospect forwards take the next step and we're stuck with campana and rodriguez still next qualifiers, why not double down on the defense and bring in an Italian coach?
lol the downfall of Italian soccer is crazy. 4 time WC winners shouldn’t be in this drought. the last time they played in a WC they were essentially taken out at group stage by Costa Rica lol I think long gone are the days where parking the bus wins chips. Italy and mourinho ball are examples of it.
The issue isn't parking the bus since Morocco did it in 2022 and reached semis. Italy has fallen behind in developing players for a decade now and the difference in talent is too much to overcome even if they park the bus. If they want to get over this mess they have to replace everyone at the top who keeps denying new stadiums, better youth development, and limit the amount of foreigners in the starting lineup.
I don't want to say youre wrong on morocco since I admittedly didn't watch every single game but I can tell you even from watching Arsenal in the recent Matches vs City + this weekend vs bournmouth and Liverpool vs PSG, sitting back and parking the bus seems to work less and less in modern football. The game is full of so many athletic fast strong players on every line that there is bound to be an opportunity from the "underdog" at any given time. Sitting back and waiting is only inviting that pressure. Agreed on the Italian infrastructure though. As far as talent they still have good players. The other thing with parking the bus is that, you have to have clinical finishers - those legendary mourinho teams had great forwards like Zlatan, Drogba, and Benzema (just to name a few). Italy on the other hand: Rossi, Totti, Toni, Vieri (not sure if he won a WC). I think you get the point - If Enner were 5 years younger MAYBE. -Does this Ecuador have what feels like a once in a lifetime defense? Yes -Are they organized and disciplined enough to park the bus as a primary tactic? Yes -Will their forwards be able to score 1 or 2 goals regularly to win those razor thin margin match ups? Doubtful (since 2022 WC Ecuador has scored 2 or more goals on Australia 1x, Costa Rica 1x, Uruguay x1, Bolivia x2, Guatemala x1, Honduras x1, Jamaica 1x, Venezuela 1x, New Zealand 1x >> Would venture to say that like 50% of these are friendlies)