We beat Bolivia in La Paz, Peru in Lima and Chile in Santiago. While no one will ever know the 'what if', let's not forget that 1) we were already playing a much better game against the Chileans prior to the red card and 2) they left with the 1st half winning 1-0. We lost against you guys in Quito (1-0) in a so-so game with a pretty new coach in a place where you guys have dominated everyone else. We also just lost (1-0) vs Vzla in Pto Ordaz but watch the match and you'll see this is not 'Maturana's Colombia'. We still have to play Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay as visitors which frankly I see getting points vs Uruguay and Paraguay. Outside of Argentina, no other team can boast the same away stats...stay grounded. You guys will def make the WC and you deserve it. Thank Rueda for that, which almost none of you do. Look at some of my very early posts. The way he was ousted from our seleccion was awful. Yet, we hold Bolillo in the highest regard...yuk. BTW, Montero had a great match vs Paraguay. But he needs to show up EVERY game and do the same. As for V7, he can do no wrong in my eyes. Too bad Aguinaga wasn't 25 y.o. as you guys would rock with a MF that can slow down the play but pick away an leave your speedsters 1 on 1.
We've all come around to support Rueda and I think most on here have given him credit for turning things around from a horrible start. The press in Ecuador have been praising him highly. That said, it's worth mentioning that none of our Colombian coaches have done squat since leaving Ecuador. I'm wondering if Colombian coaches are really benefitting Ecuador or vice-versa...guys like Bolillo and LFS are still getting paychecks because they got us (we got them) to a World Cup.
Rueda has come around...His call ups have gotten better and he has the team playing to win. SO long as he doesn't go back to his old ways, we'll be alright.
kromekote: Colombia has been phenomenal this entire campaign. Their performance against Bolivia was stellar and scary -- their mix of speed and power will give any team fits. Add to that the depth (just about every player on the bench can start) and you have a force to be reckoned with. One dood they can't replace though is Mario Yepes, and he was sorely missed in the game against Venezuela. Jose Rondon's goal came off of an error by Luis Perea -- who looked out of place filling in for Yepes. Had that been Yepes on defense (or in the other box looking for goals off of headers during corners), who knows what would have happened? The 1-0 score didn't do the game justice, and I wouldn't be shocked if Colombia left Argentina with a point or 3. In re: to Rueda, he's done solid work instilling confidence and a sense of calmness to the team -- something we lacked the last campaign (walking on to the pitch looking defeated before the first whistle, lots of errors just before the final whistle) but he's definitely not the reason we're No. 2 in the standings at the moment. There's still work to be done in re: to filling the offensive central midfield gap and the sooner he settles on one goalie, the better. I understand rolling with Marcelo Dominguez for home games -- he's more accustomed to dealing with the way the ball handles in the thin Quito air than Maximo Banguera -- but there's only so many games our defense will have to adjust to each goalie's style of play. And going with the 11 most in-form players isn't rocket science. That's like the guy in the office who looks strictly at the seeds, then fills out his March Madness bracket in 10 seconds. Anyone can do that. Rueda and his staff need to look deeper into filling the remaining gaps, figure out who plays best with whom (and who doesn't -- Chucho and Caicedo connect about as well as a couple in an arranged marriage who don't speak the same language) and be ready to be flexible with players and formations in the coming games, if we're to take our game to the next level.
I expect the summer market is going to be a real good one for Ecuador's players. One would think you guys would have many more in Europe than you have now. I understand the Mexican clubs are paying top dollar but someone is going to need to step up and follow in Valencia's shadow. Caicedo is a beast and I hope he leaves the frozen tundra of the Russian league. He should be given another shot at EPL or Bundasliga would fit him well. I haven't watched previous qualifiers when Ecuador travels to Lima. How does your team usually play? To think that with 6 points you guys are in the WC! What a great campaign for Ecuador. Keep it up.
I see you're point, we're in the top ten but yet most of our NT players come from Ecuador's domestic league or Mexico with only a handful of players playing in Europe-Valencia, Ibarra, Noboa, Caicedo. It wouldn't surprise me to see some of our players playing in Europe next season. There's talk of Benitez getting another chance across the pond (nothing new, this happens all the time around this time), and if Montero keeps playing well, it's possible he goes back to Europe. There was also talk a couple months back of Erazo going to Europe but who knows if that will happen, he had an underwhelming performance with his club in Libertadores. In regards to the Peru game, both teams will want to win the game. Ecuador's will want to leave Lima with three points and take one step closer to qualifying. We have games against Argentina, Colombia, and Uruguay remaining, and they are all going to be tough. That's why the three points up for grabs are critical in my opinion. It will not completely dictate the destiny of the squad, but all I'm saying is it will go long way in helping the team accomplish their goal. Looking at the game from Peru's perspective, their margin of error is small, and since they will be playing at home, winning the game is their only option.
I highly doubt that many players transfer to europe this season. We'll be lucky to see Montero and Benitez make the move, but I still have my doubts. I don't think we'll see a lot of our players migrate until after the World Cup (depending on how well we do). You have to think about the price tag our guys have from the mexican league. Will a top european team go for the guys we have in Mexico? I highly doubt it. And the smaller teams aren't going to be willing to pay the bucks to the mexicans. Players from the domestic league going straight to europe...hhmmm doesn't really happen much so i doubt that too. Unless there were someone extremely great right now. The closest candidate is probably Marcos Caicedo, but i highly doubt he leaves. If anything, we'll see more guys in mexico next season. Marcos Caicedo, Frickson Erazo, Michael Arroyo (his contract with Atlante is still on), and maybe Johnny Uchuari is drawing some interest. But there's no one standing out a lot right now on a consistent level. Maybe in the latter half of the year we'll see certain players turn the "on" button.
kromekote -- agreed on all points. In re: to the first topic, @b9d23m89 and @TheMachine summed it up perfectly -- some of our players could make the leap across the Atlantic but likely won't, for one reason or another. In re: to playing in Lima, we traditionally give as good as we take -- just like they do in Quito (except for the 5-1 smashing in 2007 when half the Peruvian team got suspended for partying two days before the game). In 41 overall meetings, we've won 14, lost 17 and tied 12. Since 2003, we're 3-0-2 against Peru in qualifiers -- 1-1 when we play in Lima. A lot of those matches were extremely close and could have gone either way. Both qualifiers during the '06 campaign ended in draws and Peru probably should have won the match in Lima, had Andres Mendoza not missed a wide-open goal from about two feet out: Not that we were much better -- during the match in Quito, I clearly remember Ebelio Ordonez turning rocket scientist and shooting the ball into the stands like he was launching the first Ecuadorian satellite into orbit. The moral of the story is: All bets are off when Ecuador plays Peru. Like most rivalries between brother countries, technique tends to take a back seat to heart, with adrenaline riding shotgun. History (I hear old-timers at the gym or at the park who talk like they went to high school with Atahualpa or were in a garage band with Huascar -- can't let things go), a clash of styles and evenly matched players means the game almost always delivers in the excitement department.
techno_toro I agree on how intense these games have been, as a matter of fact, the Peru-Ecuador game in Lima always turns out one of my favorite games,as long as we keep Peru from scoring in the first minutes we'll be fine,I remember Pizarro scorin a little over the first minute in 2002 and Guerrero scoring at :45 secs into the 2006 game,I Like our chances in this game, Peru has improved but so have we.