By Efosa Taiwo

The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be Ecuador’s fourth appearance at the apex competition after treble appearances in Korea/Japan 2002, Germany 2006 and Brazil 2014.

The La Tricolor as they are known will be making a return to the global finals after eight years thanks to an impressive qualification campaign in which they finished above Peru, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela.

Historically, their best performance at the FIFA World Cup came at the 2006 World Cup where they qualified second in a group consisting Germany, Poland and Costa Rica. They were, however, eliminated in the Round of 16 by the Three Lions of England.

Pitted in Group A with favourites-for-the-top-spot, Netherlands, host, Qatar and Africa’s representative, Senegal, Ecuador are highly tipped to finished second in Group A but certainly have an equally formidable opponent in the Terranga Lions of Senegal to battle it out with.   

Whether or not they are able to win that battle has a lot to do with their ‘tricky’ first clash with Qatar in the opening match of the tournament with history having it that no host nation has ever lost their opening match at the FIFA World Cup.

Players To Watch Out For

Piero Hincapie
Position: Defender
Age: 20

Peiro Hincapie has grown to become an exciting cotemporary centre-back in the German Bundesliga.  

The Bayern Leverkusen centre-half’s ability to start attack from defence with his vision, drive and precise passes to pick out his teammates are some of the qualities that have made the 20-year-old one to look out for when proceedings begin in Qatar.  

Not only is his attacking prowess gilt-edged, in defence, Hencapie is an aggressive tackler with a knack to read games well characteristic of great defenders.

Gonzalo Plata
Position: Forward
Age: 21

Having featured impressively for Ecuador’s youth teams, winning the adidas Bronze Ball at Poland 2019, Gonzalo Plata has convincingly cemented a starting berth in the senior team.

Highly talented with the ability to take on defenders, and create spaces in defence, Ecuador, undoubtedly, would have their hopes on the 21-year-old to do wonders for the La Tricolor.

Enner Valencia

Position: Forward

Age: 32

Fenerbache forward Enner Valencia is one of the few experienced players in the Ecuador team.

The 32-year-old featured in Ecuador’s last appearance at the World Cup in 2010 where he scored two goals both against Switzerland and Honduras.

With the team brimmed with youngsters, his experience will be the shoulder the team will seek to mount on to soar in Qatar.  

Coach

Gustavo Alfaro

Gustavo Julio Alfaro is a former Argentine footballer who took over the reins as coach of the Ecuador senior national team in August 2020.

Alfaro led the Ecuador team to qualifying for the World Cup finals after 12 years, picking up seven wins and five draws to finish two points above the play-off spot, ensuring that the likes of Colombia and Chile failed to make the cut

Alfaro loves lining up his team in a 4-3-3 formation with emphasis on attacking and scoring lots of goals.

World Cup Fixtures

November 20: Qatar vs Ecuador

November 25: Netherlands vs Ecuador

November 29: Ecuador vs Senegal