The last time Moisés Caicedo was in Philadelphia, he was on the winning side of last summer’s Club World Cup quarterfinal. Today’s visit may leave him with slightly less nice memories, and perhaps with a few haunting nightmares of crossbars being hit.
Ecuador, one of the more popular picks to surprise at the tournament after a very strong qualification run through South America, lost 1-0 in their opening match against Côte d’Ivoire tonight, thanks to a late goal from Manchester United’s Amad Diallo. That kid’s certainly got a habit of changing games.
The big question about La Tri was whether they could generate enough offense to take advantage of their strong defense and midfield. This game certainly won’t alleviate any such concerns, with multiple chances missed and the woodwork hit twice. Though their opponents also found the frame of the goal twice, they also carried more threat in general. And obviously they did eventually score and actual goal, too.
Caicedo played the full-90 and put in a solid shift. Kendry did not get on at all, despite wearing the No.10 shirt. For Côte d’Ivoire, RC Strasbourg’s Guéla Doué played nearly the entire match at right back. Doué may be in the shop window to help BlueCo’s books, and this performance certainly won’t have hurt his valuation.
Next up for Ecuador is now the game against Curaçao, who did briefly threaten history before getting absolutely destroyed by Germany, 7-1. Beating up on the minnows may unfortunately play a big role in determining the final standings in this Group E.
