I've said it from the begining about Equador....they are a weak side. WHile we shouldn't underestimate them and take them lightly, they are not a good side.
Here in the US you get to see alot of Mexican league games, CONCACAF games, as well as South American games and like I said, nothing about Equador impressed me. They will play a bunker defence and hope for the best.
If you take away the big guys in South America, Brazil and Argentina, the rest of the nations there are very weak and very predictable. Paraguay is a good side, but they have no attack and they rely on Chilavert to bail them out. Columbia is about an overrated #4 in the World as there ever was one...CHile is weak...etc....Equador is similar to paraguay in that they will play a defensive game.
Honestly...if I would worry about a team, and they are very beatable too, that team is Mexico. They always play hard in the WC and somehow make their way to the next round. They are known to give teams trouble....they tied Holland in 98 and they game Germany all that it could handle in the playoff round. We should beat them but we should not take them lightly.
Barring injury it will come down to us and the Italians for first place in the group and the right to play either Portugal or Poland in the next round.
Losing to Haiti isn't good, but it'll be a different team that shows up at the WC. Let's not forget that pretty much everybody(except Spain) raises their game a notch at the WC and Ecuador won't be a pushover.
Even if with lower calibre teams you still run the risk with defeating yourselves (especially when you through arrogance and over confidence in the mix).
Hey Ivo, whatever do you mean by that Spain comment....aren't they supposed to be contenders?:tongue: :tongue:
We'll have the chance to see Ecuador ourselves here in Canada, they play against Canada at 9pm EST and the game will be on sportsnet.
So we'll be able to see how they respond to a 2-0 loss to Haiti and we'll be able to evaluate their squad, providing it's their full squad they sent which is unlikely.
Luckily Canada didn't qualify 'cause I shore wouldn't want them rascals in our group at the World Cup. They're the Defending Gold Cup champions ya know!
Ecuador finished strong, winning 2-0 with 2 late goals but were not very impressive. I guess we'll have to see what kind of game they bring to the WC because if they bring this game, it's gonna be a massacre
I just finished watching a pathetic display of athleticism that was trying to pass itself off as soccer.
Canada sucks so baaad!
Ecuador suck just a little bit less, but they suck d**k nonetheless.
There is no way that the team I saw play tonight can do anything against Croatia. I don't think there's one player on the team taller than my girlfriend - she's only 5'1". They lost every battle in the air (except those ones where two Canadians knocked heads in the air) None of them can shoot the ball. They don't have noticable speed. Their midfield has no vision. Their defense allowed the lumbering Canadian forwards to challenge them.
I also saw the hilites from the Mexico game and they didn't look too good either.