About a week before their tough World Cup opener against Ivory Coast, Ecuador’s national team pulled off a successful dress rehearsal. However, coach Sebastian Beccacece surprised everyone with his approach.
On paper, Ecuador is likely to be Germany’s toughest opponent in the group stage. The South Americans had a remarkable World Cup qualifying campaign, conceding only five goals in 18 matches—and finished second on their continent, behind only world champions Argentina. To cap off the qualifiers, coach Sebastian Beccacece’s team made a statement by defeating the reigning champions 1-0.
For their World Cup dress rehearsal on Sunday, Ecuador invited clear underdog Guatemala to Columbus. Coach Beccacece surprised everyone with his unusual approach: “La Tri” did not start with their regular lineup—instead, they fielded almost exclusively second- or third-string players. Ecuador thus did not use the friendly to gel as a team, preferring instead to spread the load across as many players as possible.
The plan against the overwhelmed opponent worked nonetheless: The favorites, led by Stuttgart’s Arevalo—who started for the first time in his fourth senior international match—immediately pinned Guatemala deep in their own half. The lead from a penalty kick—Morales had actually only tugged at Paez’s jersey—came about somewhat fortuitously in the 19th minute, though; goal scorer Jordy Caicedo didn’t care.
Ecuador kept up the pressure and was already celebrating what they thought was a 2-0 lead ten minutes before halftime, but for the beaten keeper Hagen, Hernandez made a heroic save on the line against Minda’s shot (35th minute). Seconds before halftime, Arevalo—who has been with VfB since January—nearly celebrated his first international goal, but the post stood in the attacker’s way (45th minute).
Unbeaten in 19 games
After the break, a string of regulars took the field—including Premier League stars like Moises Caicedo (Chelsea FC) and former Leverkusen player Hincapie (Arsenal). But the first team actually struggled to create clear scoring chances against a Guatemalan opponent that was sitting deeper and deeper.
Shortly before the final quarter of an hour began, it finally happened: After a deflected cross from Preciado, Sunderland striker Angulo nodded the ball into the net (73′). Just five minutes later, Milan pro Estupinan—who had come on as a substitute seconds earlier—capitalized on a mistake by goalkeeper Hagen and beat him from long range to make it 3-0 (78′).
This also extends their unbeaten streak: Ecuador last lost on September 6, 2024, against Brazil, and has since recorded eight wins and eleven draws.
