Brazil lost to Paraguay. I hope Paraguay and Argentina qualify for the Olympics. Brazil didn’t try to win against Venezuela. Either there was a pact or they preferred Venezuela winning.
The Argentinian player does smack the Venezuelan in the face. He had his arms up and it does seem like he took a swipe. There were some questionable calls for sure. Just prior to Argentina’s second goal he didn’t call a corner. I’m reading the comments on social media and it’s ridiculous. If Aragon was bad, he was bad all around. The calls went both ways. They can’t just whine about the questionable calls that didn’t go their way.
¿POR QUÉ NO FUE PÁEZ AL PREOLÍMPICO? Miguel Bravo contestó y analizó la actuación de La Tri (VIDEO) https://www.futbolecuador.com/site/...testo-y-analizo-la-actuacion-de-la-tri/162525 You know, last night when I read this, I was TRYING to rationalize and consider the upsides for this type of reflection that Bravo offered. My conclusion, after giving it some thought and trying to repress the immediate reaction...it's the same, I'm pissed. This is a straight up loser mentality. Clearly, we go to these tournaments to be "competitive" but we don't have the mindset, even from coaching staff, to take the most stacked squad possible to run the table and make a concerted effort to win it all. IMO, this is still on-par with Bolillo Gomez's "vamos al mundial para aprender" mindset. The fact that FEF still quietly approves of this type of coaching mindset is nothing short of pathetic. So Bravo is telling me that Endrick, who signed with Real Madrid (at a higher valuation than Kendry), plays top-flight football for Palmeiras, also gets called up to the senior NT, is good enough to play a Sub-23, but Kendry Paez shouldn't be there to give other guys a chance? Ecuador needs to go into these tournaments with 2 things in mind: 1) Take your most stacked squad 2) Win at all costs even if the games don't matter to any mathematical advantages in the standings One of the reason why Brazilians and Argentinians get easier looks and sign in greater numbers, besides their population advantage (larger talent pool), is the fact that they win tournaments and shine in the most accountable games. Find me a year where a 17-19 year old Brazilian or Argentinian doesn't get transferred to a major club. Their advantage is their past success b/c it de-risks the investment. Literally a brand of "success".
The reason Bravo gave for not taking Paez makes no sense. It’s infuriating. Their teams would not have released them but I’m sure Brazil would have named Savio, Joao Pedro, and Rodrygo to their squad. At first I thought they didn’t select Paez to the squad because of the number of games he played in last season. He played in over 50 games last season. He’s only 16 years old so you don’t to overdo it with him. That could lead to injuries down the line. If this were to given this as the reason then I would have understood.
The guy was clearly being honest to a fault. He's got major egg on his face for that type of candor. Sad tbh- puts all of his judgement into question.
Do you guys think its more about "displaying more of the merchandise". In other words let's showcase the rest of our unsold stock and see who bites - the FEF is being influenced by IDV's approach providing a platform that helps sell the footballer instead of winnning the different tournaments.
Absolutely not. Here's why- scouts like winners. For every 1 good look a player gets in a group stage, the number magnifies significantly once knockout rounds hit. All of the standouts who were getting looks before the tournament started are the same ones the scouts came to see. What starts to raise eyebrows is when teams make runs and other players start riding the credibility wave that comes from success. It's logical- the games become more pressured and accountable, and there's less guys for 1 scout to see b/c there's less games. If they were displaying the merch, why not slot Kendry into the game who will let so many other players around him play more relaxed and probably at an elevated level because he's probably the team fulcrum- they'd look better because of him. Winning the whole thing also brings scouts into the country after the tournament ends as there's more intrigue into what made the "winning team". It's a virtuous cycle.
We don’t know what goes on behind closed doors so we’ll never know. Let’s speculate for a moment though. If Paez had been selected to the squad then perhaps Vite wouldn’t have gotten as much playing time as he did. IDV still owns 50% of Vite’s rights. I do think Vite is a player that will make the move to Europe at some point.
Another reason is that most time many of them are already in possession of a passport of a country in the EU. Ecuadorian's not so much.
There’s a lot of unanswered questions though man. Vite is a good player and was rightfully selected. He was one of Ecuador’s best players in the tournament. But it’s hard not to see other things that went on and not think there’s some shady dealings going on. Villa was a disaster. He looked nervous and inexperienced. Napa is one of Ecuador’s more promising young GKs. Garcia has potential but he made a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball. Alex Rangel was one of the best young CBs in the league last season. Another player that I thought of was Davis Baustista. He’s playing in Germany. Ochoa had 1-2 good games in the U20 Libertadores last year. His performance dropped against stronger competition. His performance was below average during the Preolimpico. There were better players available - Marco Angulo, Denil Castillo. There’s been questionable selections in regards to the senior NT as well. These things should not be ignored. There’s some regionalismo involved when certain sectors of the press criticize the decisions being taken. That can overshadow the fact that there’s some questions that should be asked.
This might be true for Argentinians more than anyone else. We have lots of kids across canteras in Europe but they're EU citizens by birth. Each year we are uncovering more and more of them.
If any of these backroom deals still occur, we don't yet have a governance structure in place at the federation level to stand up to black hand interests (that would be an utter disaster) and if the coach just succumbs to pressure, then we just have a weak leader at the helm of an impressionable group of young men.
On another note, Piero seems to be an unequivocal starter again at Bayer. Not sure if they have anyone left in Africa Cup though. They had a great game and win today vs Stuttgart in the DFB Pokal. He played a solid 90 min game and they moved onto semi-finals.
Kossounou and Ivory Coast will play semis. Kossounou and Tabsoba being away for AFCON definitely helped Hincapie win back his starting spot.
It wouldn’t surprise me if there were shady backroom dealings going on. Maybe it’s not as bad as it was when Chiriboga was in charge. Who knows though. I will say this though, some dirigentes and agents have more sway in the Ecuadorian football landscape. I mean look at what goes on with Chamorro and BSC.
A similar phenomenon to what happened in the US Soccer realm with the New Jersey power brokers having such a firm grip on operations, scouting, etc. That said, this crap needs to end.
Any of you guys know who streams German fútbol? I wanna check Hincapié out against Bayern this weekend.
Shady dealings happen everywhere. Best example I can find is Maradona vs Grondona. I’m not saying Maradona was a saint but you don’t give away your people for your own gain. After Grondona died it seemed like it got cleaned up a lil bit on this side. I legit think Conmebol pockets club money but these past few years I’ve seen them disburse it. https://www.lanacion.com.ar/deporte...ng-del-mundial-de-estados-unidos-nid14112023/
It crazy that after so many years after Chiriboga we still have these guys allowing such shady deal. There are still big rumors about a large number of Colombians playing as Ecuadorians and other Ecuadorian players with false documents. Also these dumb rando signings with the Spanish coaches with FEF and now Liga. Jordi Cruyff was just a huge upset in so many way. No one knew who his coaching staff was and what the terms of his contract where. That guy came in with his mind set on only finding a spot in FCB and with a contract that he knew would play into his favor once it came time for him to bounce. Que HDP! But in the end how does an entire federation allow this to happen ? Jordi and his rep made so much money off us with out him even having to coach one game. I think we repeated that mistake with Alfaro with all the confusion on how much he stated FEF owed him and how much FEF publicly announced. Again how do we not know the terms in our contracts? Who are these reps and how do they have so much power in our football even with Egas now in FEF? 💣💣 TREMENDO DARDO DEL 'SUPER CHINTO' 🤯🤯Jacinto Espinoza, ex arquero de #LDU, lanzó un fuerte dardo sobre la falta de oportunidades para los entrenadores ecuatorianos: "Muy buen empresario tuvo el estratega español Josep Alcácer (DT #LDU)".📹 @didigomezz🤳… pic.twitter.com/c9MRPf4Thg— Machdeportes ✨ Gente Que Sabe De Radio (@MachdeportesFM) February 7, 2024
They’ll actually broadcast some matches on the different ESPN channels. I watched Bayer Leverkusen play Stuttgart yesterday on ESPN Deportes. They were also showing the game on ESPN2.
Oy vey. Well he's got to keep up the momentum. Caicedo and Chelsea look night and day better today. Interesting that Enzo is actually sitting back with Caicedo to help the holding play. The entire team seems to be on track to seal out the 2-0 lead and move on in FA cup.