Ecuador v. Paraguay - WCQ - 26 March 2013 - Quito

Jorge Guagua (SD Quito) - why is he even called up?!?! One of the worse defenders I've ever seen! The worst player in that list hands down.

Pedro Quiñónez (Emelec), Christian Suárez (Pachuca - México), Pedro Quiñónez (Emelec), and Juan Luis Anangonó (Argentinos Juniors – Argentina) - I would have taken these players. They either don't do good in the NT or haven't been performing good at all. Anangono hasn't even scored and he is been benched currently. I rather have Mina.

 

All in all a decent call up by Rueda considering some of the circumstances. BTW who the hell is Cuero? Not many options at the position but still. If it involved taking the three best GK's from Ecuador then you can bet Dreer would have at least been considered but to be honest I doubt he would want to come, fight for a spot, and ride bench. We can all agree that Guagua shouldn't be on the list but lets be honest, with Campos injured, we do not have a whole lot of depth at CB. So long as he doesn't start, I'm okay with his name being on the list. I would much rather have had Mina on the list as opposed to Anangono, Anangono has yet to score this season while Mina has netted one here and there albeit against crappy competition. Glad to see Marcos Caicedo on the list.

 

Darwin Cuero is the keeper who started the majority of the games on the U-20 NT before he got injured. He was decent, not a bad keeper IMO. He's no John Jaramillo, but he was pretty good.

Besides Darwin Cuero, this list came out almost exactly the way I thought it would.

1. the lack of a right back (or should I say Jose Madrid's poor performances in Liga) means that Rueda did the obvious- he didn't call up a right back. I'm pretty sure in case of an emergency he'll improvise and move Achilier there and play with Morante or Guagua with Erazo as center backs. Either way, I that situation won't occur if all our starters are healthy , but in case of an injury with JC Paredes that is most likely what Rueda would do.
2. Obviously Guauga was going to be there because of two reasons. One being Jairo Campos is still injured. And there other might have been a toss up between Guagua and Diego Calderon, but since Rueda most likely wants Calderon to adapt to the MLS and Guagua has been active since January, he went with the obvious- Guagua. And just like The Machine said, as long as he doesn't play, i don't care.
3. Leon and Quinonez were obviously going to make the list b/c of Castillo's suspension. That was a bit foreseeable.
4. Benitez and Caicedo were the only two strikers who we all knew would make the list no matter what. Meaning there were 3 positions available to fill up. Yoya injury, Arroyo's suspension, and an extra slot we had due to the fact that we didn't select a right back, meant Fidel Martinez, Narciso Mina, Marcos Caicedo, Juan Anangono, and Cristian Suarez were all going to be options. Although some people say Fidel Martinez and Narciso Mina should be on this list, I support and understand Rueda's decision for choosing Cristian Suarez and Juan Anangono. I think the deciding fact between Suarez vs. Fidel was 1. who has more experience in the NT 2. who's been more effective/scoring this season. And Suarez fills in both those requirements that I'm sure were the main reasons why Suarez is on list this and not Fidel. Fidel may be playing really great futbol with Tijuana lately, but he hasn't scored yet this season. I'll admit, I wanted to see him on the NT b/c I believe him and Arroyo have very similar styles of playing, but Suarez isn't a bad option. There's 100's of people on futbolecuador just bashing Suarez for no reason and don't seem to understand WHY he was chosen.

I've always said that the advantage players like Suarez, Arroyo, and Marcos Caicedo, (and to some extent Fidel Martinez) have is that they SCORE. In this case Rueda went for Suarez b/c of that simple reason. And as for J. Anangono, he was chosen simply b/c Rueda does not like calling up players who don't start in their club teams (unless your name is Valencia, Benitez, Caicedo, Noboa, etc.). So obviously, Anangono was going to be an option whether he's been scoring or not b/c we don't have any other strikers besides Marlon De Jesus who is no way in hell ready to play on the NT. We'll see what these guys can offer. But what I do know is that Marcos Caicedo was going to make the cut undoubtedly and regardless of injury any or suspension of any player. He has to take advantage of this moment! I'm really glad Rueda called him up.

IMO it's Rueda best call up to date, given the circumstances, injuries, suspensions, and poor performances of certain players who are usually on the list....he did it right this time 100%. I find no way to criticize this list negatively. On point.

 

My starting 11:

Dominguez; Paredes, Achilier, Erazo, W. Ayovi; Valencia, Noboa, Saritama, ____; Benitez, F. Caicedo

It's really hard picking who should play that left wing. Montero hasn't impressed me as a starter in Qualifiers, but he did have a good game against Portugal, especially in the first half. His performances in Morelia are good, but he hasn't been consistent with it and I've had trouble seeing him have a COMPLETE game where he's consistent lately.

Suarez has improved in the last few games Pachuca has played although he's not at his best just yet. He started off the season pretty bad if you ask me, but he's improving as each game goes by. He has scored 2 or 3 goals so far this season.

Rojas on the other hand has been consistent assisting, creating opportunities, and being a great threat in Morelia, but he hasn't scored as much as Marcos Caicedo has this season. Should we go for experience (Rojas, Montero, Suarez) or the youngest guy of the 4 who is the best player in the campeonato right now and is the most effective winger? I'll let you guys decide b/c I really can't.

 

So, No Arroyo To be expected I guess, But moving on, Left wing is a big problem, Suarez is been pretty consistent but is also a sure substitution, I dont think I ever seen him play 90 minutes, Montero has been using the right wing a lot lately and seems more comfortable in it, either way there wont be much difference regardless who goes as a starter every candidate is pretty solid.

I pray Pedro Quinonez does not start this game, the man is a red card waiting to happen, Surprisingly Saritama wasnt called up? is he carded? or did Rueda finally listened to the 13 Million Ecuadorians that know he sucks lol.

I'm sure that Anangono's call up comes cus of Borja's injury, and considering that we only play one game this round, I expect Caicedo and Benitez to do 90 mins each,

 

Although Montero didn't play much in yesterday's game... he was the best player from his team. I have a lot of confidence in him when he plays with the NT. I think he has shown enough to remain as a started, but I just don't think he will finish all 90 minutes. Either way I still want to see M. Caicedo play for us because he has been preforming very consistently for a long time now. I'm sure Rueda knows how to move the pieces around to give some minutes to M. Caicedo. I'm pretty exited to see him play in the NT.

Also I kind of want Bagüí to start over W. Ayovi because he has been performing better. Also, he performed really good against Portugal. I believe that Walter will start either way... this is just IMO.

 

Saritama is on the list. And most likely he will be a starter. I prefer Saritama over Quinonez or even Henry Leon.

 

Totally missed it lol, so I guess Saritama and Noboa?

 

Like b9d23m89 acknowledged, picking who starts on the left wing is one of the biggest question leading up to the Paraguay game. You can make a case for all of the candidates-Montero, Caicedo, Rojas, and Suarez. Montero won himself some brownie points with his performance against Portugal, Rojas has been pretty consistent playing for Morelia, and Caicedo has turned in some impressive performances both in the domestic league as well as in Libertadores. Suarez has been solid at Pachuca, especially the last couple of weeks, but he's still not in the form he was when he was healthy and playing for Santos Laguna, so I have to say he's on the outside lookin in, that being said Rueda has gone with him in the past so you never know. He's a good option for the second half.

Barring injury, W. Ayovi will be back on defense in place of Bagui, our two CB should and will be Erazo and Achilier, Saritama and Noboa will patrol midfield, Paredes and Valencia will attack though the right, and Benitez and Caicedo will lead the attack.

Who starts on the left is not the only question leading up to the game, who starts at GK is also unknown. My personal choice would be Dominguez.

 

I agree with Dominguez. I think the left wing along with the keeper position is always up for debate. Banguera did a good job against Portugal and i'll never frown at seeing him start b/c he can easily be a starter as well. The only reason i'm inclined for Dominguez is because he's been consistent in Liga and when he had his opportunity for the NT. Since Dominguez played the last Qualifier game and remains at the same competitive level he's always shown, I give him my vote. The only way Banguera will get his spot back is if Dominguez gets carded, injured, or his performance level goes down (this being the least probable cause). Dominguez, just like Banguera, seem to never under perform, they've been consistent since I can remember. If anything, they've only gotten better as time has passed.

 

Like you said Banguera played well against Portugal so he has that going in his favor, but apart from the game in Buenos Aires, Dominguez has performed well. It's a toss up, but the reason I prefer Dominguez is because I believe he still has some projection left in him and he still hasn't reached his peak. Imo while Banguera has remained steady whenever he has played, Dominguez has improved his game since he took over.

 

I think Montero has been great for us so why change things up? In case we have to make any changes in the second half we'd probably be better off with Suarez or Caicedo. This would all depend on how the game is going of course. I'd go with Suarez if we haven't scored or finished Paraguay off yet. Go with Caicedo if we sealed the game, just so he can get some experience playing for the NT.

I think the GK position is debatable because we have two great keepers. I think Banguera is more of an "atajador" but overall, I like Dominguez just a little more. I think Rueda was smart going with Cuero because, let's face it, third string keepers rarely play and with only one game to play you might as well bring in a young guy to get used to it all.

 

We don't have a whole lot of where to choose from. The Ecuadorean press mentioned Robinson Sanchez (Olmedo), Christian Mora, and even the GK from Aucas as possible alternatives. Cuero didn't really impress all that much in the U-20 competition but overall was alright and had his moments. Had Bone made the move to El Nacional then we would have seen his name on the list but he's buried deep on Dep. Quito's bench at the moment and will continue to ride bench up until he leaves or should Carini suffer an injury. Sucks Jaramillo didn't make the move to a team where he can get some playing time, I have always been a fan of his game. I don't know if I mentioned this the other day but I thought there was a small chance that Dreer was going to get called up. One of Rueda's coaches said that there was going to be a surprise in the list in terms of the GK, for a moment I thought it might have been Dreer. When I saw Cuero on the list it took by surprise, I had forgotten he was the GK on the Under 20 side. Back to Dreer, it makes no sense calling him up really, other than to maybe stage a fake competition. That being said I doubt Dreer would want to join the NT and ride bench. This is not like last time around where we had to rely on a nationalized player (Elizaga) because we had no viable alternatives-Cevallos was in decline and Mora sucked (still does).

 

I like both Banguera and Dominguez. I honestly don't know who is better. I just hate Bamguera's hat and he looks fat haha. I trust the coach to make a good decision though. I'm glad we have this problem though lol.

 

lol michael arroyo is getting everyone fat in barcelona

 

I never get why some Ecuadorean GK's wear hats. Cevallos did the same. I can understand why they would do it when they're in Quito and playing at noon but he wears it all the time. My uncle once told me it's for sponsorship reasons and they get money out of it. Any truth to that?

 

For the upcoming games I'll be paying close attention to how Paredes and Erazo perform. Paredes hasn't showed the same form with BSC that he displayed during his time with Deportivo Quito and I would hate to see his slow start to the season carry over to the NT. Erazo has come under fire this season for some lackluster performances so far this season. I haven't seen him play in the last couple of games but he had some crappy showings around the time the rumors surfaced that was being watched by European scouts. Other than I'm pretty confident, hopefully everyone stays healthy.

 

That worries me too, but like Rueda said- these guys transform when they play for the NT. I hope this time isn't any different. Next week we play El Salvador in Quito. I believe it's next friday if im not mistaken. And on the 26th we play Paraguay which is a MUST win. We are finally approaching the final stages of the Qualifiers guys.

Our next 4 games have always been THE most important games Ecuador plays in the 2nd round of the Qualifier. The times we have qualified, we have summed points against paraguay, peru, argentina, and bolivia. (besides 02 when we lost to argentina and 06 when we tied against peru in lima, we've been really productive in this stage of the qualifier). This time should be no exception. Ecuador is undefeated in ALL competitions since almost a year ago in the game vs. argentina in buenos aires.

Although Paraguay appears to be the weakest opponent in the Qualifier, we should not enter this game thinking it will be a peice of cake. The 2 of hardest opponents in the Qualifier for Ecuador have been team that are at the bottom of the table- Peru and Bolivia being the 2/3 most complicated games we've had in Quito this Qualifier. There's no way to enter this game feeling relaxed.

On a positive note, if we win these next 2 games against El Salvador and Paraguay, we'll move up to the top 10 in the FIFA Ranking. I've wanted to see Ecuador in the top 10 since forever.