A busy fortnight of football in Ecuador

Things are warming up nicely for next weeks World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in the Atahaulpa stadium. Despite the game being at 4pm on Friday afternoon and the capacity of the stadium being decreased to 35,000 the atmosphere should be electric. Alike many South American cities, Quito will come to a stand-still next Friday with many Ecuadorians sporting their bright,yellow shirts in support of “El Tri”.

The Olympics went by largely without a much notice(apart from Alex Quinonez).Football is where the real interest lies.

 

On Monday Ecuador coach, Reinaldo Rueda named his squad of 24 to face Bolivia and Uruguay. The one major surprise was the re-inclusion of Felipe Caicedo (Lokomotiv Moscow) who has been out of the international picture since 2011. The squad has a core of home based players but with extra quality from Mexico’s Primeria Division and Europe.

 

 

 

 

Christian “Chucho” Benitez is on fire for Club America and is normally Ecuador’s main goal threat however he will be suspended for the Bolivia game after picking up a yellow card against Colombia. This is a severe problem for Ecuador as Benitez is their attacking spear and the focal point for the team. Usually Valencia, Montero or Quinonez  will bomb down the wings and cross for the physical Benitez to muscle his way into a goal-scoring chance, someone else will now have to step in.

ECUADOR SQUAD FOR GAMES AGAINST BOLIVIA AND URUGUAY

GOALKEEPERS:

DOMINGUEZ, (LIGA DE QUITO)

BANGUERA,  (BARCELONA)

BONE,  (DEPORTIVO QUITO)

DEFENCE:

PAREDES,  (DEPORTIVO QUITO)

ACHILLIER,  (EMELEC)

AYOVI,  (MONTERREY, MÉXICO)

CALDERON, (LIGA DE QUITO)

CAMPOS,  (BARCELONA)

ERAZO,  (BARCELONA)

GUAGUA, (ATLANTE , MÉXICO)

MIDFIELD:

CASTILLO,  (PACHUCA , MÉXICO)

LEON, (INDEPENDIENTE)

MINDA,  (CHIVAS, USA)

QUIÑONEZ,  (EL NACIONAL)

ARROYO, (BARCELONA)

SARITAMA,  (DEPORTIVO QUITO)

VALENCIA, (MANCHESTER UNITED )

MONTERO, (MORELIA , MÉXICO)

ROJAS, JOAO (MORELIA , MÉXICO)

ATTACK:

AYOVI,  (AL NASSR,SAUDI ARABI)

BENITEZ, (AMÉRICA,MÉXICO)

CAICEDO, (LOKOMOTIV ,RUSSIA)

MINA, (BARCELONA)

IBARRA,  (VITESSE, HOLLAND)

Regardless Ecuador will have to play better than they did against Colombia. Although they scrambled to a 1 – 0 win in July this was mainly due to Colombia being so disappointing. Anything less than a win will hamper their qualification chances and put them back in the 5th place mix, especially with a tough trip to Montevideo three days later.

Bolivia are coming off a fine win against Paraguay and as fellow Andeans will not be affected by the altitude. They languish in 7th position and need points to jump-start their campaign.

 

Chile 6 12  Uruguay 5 11  Argentina 5 10  Ecuador 5 9  Venezuela 6 8  Colombia 5 7  Bolivia 6 4  Paraguay 5 4  Peru 5 3

 

 

 

The squad will not assemble until Thursday after the Ecuadorian teams have completed their 1st ties of the Copa Sudamericana. All teams progressed after tricky first round ties but the competition steps up a level with the inclusion of a higher level of opposition. Despite this each team should be relatively confident of passing into the next round.

 

 

Tuesday, August 28 – 17:15
	Cobreloa (Chile)	vs	Barcelona

Tuesday, August 28 – 19:45
	Olympia (Paraguay)	vs	Emelec
Wednesday, August 29 – 17:15
	Liga de Loja	vs	Nacional (Uruguay)

Thursday, August 30 – 17:15
	Deportivo Quito	vs	Aurora (Bolivia)

With 8 games played Deportivo Quito’s season is essentially over bar their participation in the Copa Sudamericana, It is hard to believe they won the Championship last year as they are currently rooted to the bottom and don’t look like climbing the table. Similarly Liga de Loja are struggling in 2nd bottom position unable to recapture last terms form.

The big teams (Barcelona, Emelec and Liga) continue scrape to single goal wins and it looks like their matches against each other will go a long way to deciding the title.

	Liga de Loja	1 – 2	Liga de Quito
	Deportivo Cuenca	1 – 2	Barcelona
	Macará	2 – 0	Técnico Universitario
	Emelec	1 – 0	Olmedo
	Independiente del Valle	1 – 0	Manta F.C.
The Quito derby will be played later because of Deportivo’s involvement in the Copa Sudamericana
	El Nacional	vs	Deportivo Quito