Football World Cup 2014 / Ecuador

This article covers the Ecuadorian national soccer team at the 2014 World Cup . It was only the third time that Ecuador took part in the finals and it was the only South American team to take part in a finals in South America for the first time . Ecuador was the only South American team eliminated in the preliminary round.

qualification

Ecuador qualified through the qualifying games of the South American Football Association CONMEBOL .

All nine teams, which belong to the South American association CONMEBOL as well as hosts Brazil, played against each other in a single group stage with a return game, with a total of 16 matches for each team and one team free of play on every match day. The four best-placed teams qualified directly for the final round of the 2014 World Cup. Ecuador used its home advantage in Quito , which is 2,850 meters high, and was able to win all home games except for the game against Argentina. Away they only managed three draws in five defeats and so the team before Uruguay could qualify directly as fourth group thanks to the better goal difference, while Uruguay got the last place in the World Cup finals against the Asian representative Jordan in the intercontinental playoffs.

Group stage

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Argentina	16	9	5	2	035:150	+20	32
2.	Colombia	16	9	3	4th	027:130	+14	30th
3.	Chile	16	9	1	6th	029:250	+4	28
4th	Ecuador	16	7th	4th	5	020:160	+4	25th
5.	Uruguay	16	7th	4th	5	025:250	± 0	25th
6th	Venezuela	16	5	5	6th	014:200	−6	20th
7th	Peru	16	4th	3	9	017:260	−9	15th
8th.	Bolivia	16	2	6th	8th	017:300	−13	12
9.	Paraguay	16	3	3	10	017:310	−14	12

Game results

date	place	Home team	-	guest	Result	Goalscorers for Ecuador
07/10/2011	Quito	Ecuador	-	Venezuela	2: 0 (2: 0)	J. Ayovi (15th), Benítez (28th)
11/11/2011	Asunción ( PRY )	Paraguay	-	Ecuador	2: 1 (0: 0)	Rojas (90th + 2)
11/15/2011	Quito	Ecuador	-	Peru	2: 0 (0: 0)	Méndez (69.), Benítez (88.)
06/02/2012	Buenos Aires ( ARG )	Argentina	-	Ecuador	4: 0 (3: 0)
06/10/2012	Quito	Ecuador	-	Colombia	1: 0 (0: 0)	Benítez (53.)
07.09.2012	Quito	Ecuador	-	Bolivia	1: 0 (0: 0)	Caicedo (73rd / Elf)
09/11/2012	Montevideo ( URY )	Uruguay	-	Ecuador	1: 1 (0: 1)	Caicedo (7th / 11th floor)
October 12, 2012	Quito	Ecuador	-	Chile	3: 1 (1: 1)	Caicedo (33rd, 56th / Elfm.), Castillo (90th + 2)
10/16/2012	Puerto La Cruz ( VEN )	Venezuela	-	Ecuador	1: 1 (1: 1)	Castillo (23.)
03/26/2013	Quito	Ecuador	-	Paraguay	4: 1 (1: 1)	Caicedo (37.), Montero (49., 74.), Benítez (54.)
06/07/2013	Lima ( PER )	Peru	-	Ecuador	1: 0 (1: 0)
06/11/2013	Quito	Ecuador	-	Argentina	1: 1 (1: 1)	Castillo (17.)
06.09.2013	Barranquilla ( COL )	Colombia	-	Ecuador	1: 0 (0: 0)
09/10/2013	La Paz	Bolivia	-	Ecuador	1: 1 (0: 0)	Caicedo (57th / Elf)
10/11/2013	Quito ( ECU )	Ecuador	-	Uruguay	1: 0 (1: 0)	Montero (30.)
October 15, 2013	Santiago de Chile ( CHL )	Chile	-	Ecuador	2: 1 (2: 0)	Caicedo (66.)

Reinaldo Rueda used 33 players in the 16 games. Only captain Walter Ayoví was used in all games. The top scorer was Felipe Caicedo with seven goals, four of which were penalties, but he was only used in the sixth game. Six other players contributed the other goals.

preparation

The following games took place before the World Cup:

• 0March 5th in London for the first time against Australia : 4: 3 after 0: 3 deficit (goalscorers for Ecuador: Martínez / 57th, Castillo /61th / penalty, Valencia / 77th and Méndez / 90th)
• May 17th in Amsterdam against the Netherlands : 1-1 (scorer for Ecuador: Montero / 9th)
• May 31 in Arlington against Mexico : 1: 3 (scorer for Ecuador: Valencia / 80.)
• 0June 4th in Miami Gardens against England : 2-2 (goalscorers for Ecuador: Valencia / 8th, Arroyo / 70th)

Finals

Squad

The following players were in the squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Five players were already in the squad at the World Cup in Germany 8 years earlier , Edison Méndez even back in 2002 and he is the first Ecuadorian to take part in three World Cup finals, but was only used in the game against Honduras. With 8 World Cup games he is now the Ecuadorian World Cup record player. After the World Cup, he ended his national team career.

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	birthday	Games	Gates				World Cup participation	World Cup games (total)	World Cup goals (total)
goal
01	Máximo Banguera	Barcelona SC Guayaquil	25th	0	December 16, 1985
12	Adrian Bone	CD El Nacional	3	0	September 8, 1988
22nd	Alexander Domínguez	LDU Quito	18th	0	5th June 1987	3
Defense
21st	Gabriel Achilier	CS Emelec M *	23	0	March 24, 1985	2
18th	Óscar Bagüí	CS Emelec M *	21st	0	December 10, 1982
03	Frickson Erazo	Flamengo Rio de Janeiro	37	1	May 5, 1988	3		1
02	Jorge Guagua	CS Emelec M *	59	2	September 28, 1981	3					2006	3	0
04th	Juan Carlos Paredes	Barcelona SC Guayaquil	38	0	July 8, 1987	3		1
midfield
15th	Michael Arroyo	CF Atlante	20th	3	April 23, 1987	2
10	Walter Ayoví	CF Pachuca	90	8th	August 11, 1979	3
23	Carlos Gruezo	VfB Stuttgart	3	0	April 19, 1995	2
05	Renato Ibarra	Vitesse Arnhem	18th	0	January 20, 1991	1
20th	Fidel Martínez	Club Tijuana	8th	2	February 15, 1990
08th	Edison Méndez	Santa Fe CD	111	18th	March 16, 1979	1					2002, 2006	7th	1
14th	Oswaldo Minda	CD Chivas USA	18th	0	July 26, 1983	2
07th	Jefferson Montero	Monarcas Morelia	40	8th	September 1, 1989	3		1
06th	Christian Noboa	Dynamo Moscow	42	2	April 9, 1985	3
19th	Luis Saritama	Barcelona SC Guayaquil	49	0	October 20, 1983						2006	0	0
16	Antonio Valencia	Manchester United	71	8th	4th August 1985	3		1		1	2006	4th	0
attack
17th	Jaime Ayoví	Club Tijuana	30th	9	February 21, 1988
11	Felipe Caicedo	al-Jazira	49	15th	5th September 1988	3
09	Joao Rojas	CD Cruz Azul	30th	2	June 14, 1989	1
13	Enner Valencia	CF Pachuca	10	4th	November 4th 1989	3	3	1

1. ↑ M * = The club became champions in its country in the 2013 season (the 2014 season was interrupted for the World Cup), * = The club plays in the second highest league in its country.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Only the games and goals that were played or scored before the start of the World Cup ( source ) as of May 31, 2014 (after the games against the Netherlands , Mexico and England on June 4, 2014 )

Group stage

Brasília Rio de Janeiro Curitiba Viamão

Venues (red) and quarters (blue)

In the draw for the final round on December 6, 2013, Ecuador was drawn specifically to a European team drawn as the group head and entered Group E with Switzerland (group head), France and Honduras. There were no international matches against Switzerland until the World Cup and only a friendly match against France on May 27, 2008, which was lost 2-0 in Grenoble . With twelve encounters, Honduras is a relatively frequent opponent (after Mexico the second most frequent opponent of CONCACAF ), but previously only in friendly games, of which three were won and two lost. The other seven ended in a draw.

In Rio de Janeiro , Ecuador had played several games against other South American teams before the World Cup, but had never played in the other two venues before the World Cup.

The team's quarters were the Vila Ventura Hotéls in Viamão . It was the southernmost of all World Cup quarters.

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	France	8: 2	7th
2	Switzerland	7: 6	6th
3	Ecuador	3: 3	4th
4th	Honduras	1: 8	0

• Sun., June 15, 2014, 1:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. CEST) in Brasília Switzerland - Ecuador 2: 1 (0: 1)
  
• Friday, June 20, 2014, 7:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. CEST) in Curitiba Honduras - Ecuador 1: 2 (1: 1)
  
• Wed., June 25, 2014, 5:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Rio de Janeiro, Ecuador - France 0: 0
  

Sports impact

• In the FIFA world rankings , Ecuador moved up five places from 26th to 21st place despite being eliminated in the preliminary round.
• National coach Reinaldo Rueda was sacked on July 23, 2014.
• Antonio Valencia was suspended for one game due to being sent off in the last group game. Since Ecuador were eliminated, the suspension had to be served at the next official international match, the 2015 Copa America .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Match report Netherlands - Ecuador 1: 1
2. ↑ fifa.com: team quarters
3. ↑ fifa.com: "Rueda no longer national coach of Ecuador"
4. ↑ fifa.com: "Decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on World Cup cases"

Web links

• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance
• All qualifying matches in Ecuador in the group stage