Ecuador national football team

Ecuador

Nickname(s)	La Tri (Tricolor)
Association	Ecuadorian Football Federation (Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol)
Confederation	CONMEBOL (South America)
Head coach	Reinaldo Rueda
Captain	Iván Hurtado
Most caps	Iván Hurtado (164)
Top scorer	Agustín Delgado (31)
Home stadium	Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa Quito, Ecuador
FIFA code	ECU
FIFA ranking	58
Highest FIFA ranking	24 (March 2007)
Lowest FIFA ranking	76 (June 1995)
Elo ranking	T 38
Highest Elo ranking	20 (October 1997)
Lowest Elo ranking	111 (December 1959)
Principal colours Alternate colours
First international
Bolivia 1 - 1 Ecuador (Bogota, Colombia; 8 August 1938)
Biggest win
Ecuador 6 - 0 Peru  (Quito, Ecuador; 22 June 1975)
Biggest defeat
Argentina 12 - 0 Ecuador (Montevideo, Uruguay; 22 January 1942)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (First in 2002)
Best result	Round of 16, 2006
Copa América
Appearances	24 (First in 1939)
Best result	Fourth place (1959, 1993)

The Ecuadorian national football team is controlled by the Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol and represents Ecuador in international football competitions. It was for a long time one of the weaker teams in CONMEBOL, but it has recently had more success, making their first World Cup qualification in 2002, and qualifying again for the 2006 World Cup in which they made it to the last 16.

History

From a historical viewpoint, Ecuador have been one of the more struggling footballing nations in South America. Despite their past irregularities, however, they have never lacked quality.

Discarding an invitation to participate in the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup held in Uruguay, their first participation in a World Cup qualifying campaign was in the 1962 campaign, eventually being well beaten by Argentina over two games. However, the 1966 qualifying campaign pitted the side, regarded as one of the finest teams Ecuador has ever produced, against 1962 hosts and third-place finishers Chile and a weakened Colombia side. Ecuador, featuring stars such as Washington Muñoz, Alberto Spencer, Carlos Raffo, Enrique Raymondi and Jorge Bolaños, forced a play-off in Peru before being eliminated by Chile. Other talented players to have represented Ecuador include Jose Villafuerte in the 1970s and 1980s.

The 1998 World Cup qualifiers saw the format for qualifying in CONMEBOL changed to a league home-and-away system. This difference made a huge impact on Ecuador's performance as they clinched several important home wins during the campaign. At the end, they achieved a very respectable 6th place finish, just under Peru and Chile (which qualified by goal differential). The campaign also marked the emergence of several players, such as Agustin Delgado, Alex Aguinaga, Ivan Hurtado, Ulises de la Cruz and Ivan Kaviedes, who would set the stage for Ecuador's achievements in the next decade.

This remained the closest they had come to appearing in a finals until the qualification tournament for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan. Led by Colombian born manager Hernán Darío Bolillo Gómez, they finished second to Argentina, and one point ahead of Brazil who went on to win the World Cup. Agustin Delgado, with 9 goals, finished joint top scorer in qualifying with Hernán Crespo of Argentina. They were drawn in Group G with Italy, Mexico and Croatia. Although they were knocked out at the group stage, they achieved a 1-0 victory over Croatia, who had come third at the previous edition of the World Cup.

A disappointing showing at the 2004 Copa América in Peru led to the resignation of Gómez, who was replaced by another Colombian, Luis Fernando Suárez. He led them successfully through the latter stages of the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, finishing third to make the finals. In Germany, they were drawn into Group A with the hosts, Poland, and Costa Rica. Wins over Poland and Costa Rica earned La Tri qualification to the knockout stages for the first time.

Another disappointing showing at yet another Copa America in 2007 and three successive defeats in the beginning of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign led to the end of Suarez's time in the national team. He was replaced in 2008 for Sixto Vizuete, who had previously gained recognition for winning the 2007 Pan American Games with the U-18s. Vizuete became one of the few Ecuadorians to coach the U-23 national team, and senior team, but Ecuador finished the qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in 6th place, sadly being eliminated from the finals for the first time since 1998.

Their best finish in Copa América was fourth in 1993 (they also finished fourth in the 'extra' South American Championship in 1959), and are one of three South American nations who have never won the continental tournament, the other two being Chile and Venezuela.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup record

Copa América record

Pan American Games record

• 1951 to 1991 - Did not compete
• 1995 - Round 1
• 1999 to 2003 - Did not compete
• 2007 - Champions

Minor tournaments

• 1995 Korean Cup - Winners
• 1999 Canada Cup - Winners

Recent results

• Last game:  Mexico 1–2  Ecuador, Zapopan, Mexico - September 4, 2010
• Next game:  Venezuela v  Ecuador, Barquisimeto, Venezuela - September 7, 2010
• See also: Ecuador national team friendly games 2010 results.

Players

Current squad

The following twenty players were called up for the friendly matches against Mexico and Venezuela on September 4 and 8 respectively.^[1][2]

Caps and goals updated as of August 25, 2010

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Máximo Banguera December 16, 1985 (1985-12-16) (age 25) 4 0 Barcelona 2 DF Geovanny Caicedo March 28, 1981 (1981-03-28) (age 29) 1 0 Deportivo Quito 3 DF José Luis Perlaza October 6, 1981 (1981-10-06) (age 29) 4 0 Barcelona 4 DF Luis Checa December 21, 1983 (1983-12-21) (age 27) 4 0 Deportivo Quito 5 DF Geovanny Nazareno January 17, 1988 (1988-01-17) (age 23) 3 0 Barcelona 6 MF Christian Noboa April 9, 1985 (1985-04-09) (age 25) 8 2 Rubin Kazan 7 MF Michael Arroyo April 23, 1987 (1987-04-23) (age 23) 3 0 San Luis 8 MF Oswaldo Minda July 26, 1983 (1983-07-26) (age 27) 5 0 Deportivo Quito 9 FW Jaime Ayoví February 21, 1988 (1988-02-21) (age 22) 1 1 Emelec 10 MF Walter Ayoví (captain) August 11, 1979 (1979-08-11) (age 31) 48 5 Monterrey 11 FW Christian Benítez May 1, 1986 (1986-05-01) (age 24) 31 11 Santos Laguna 12 GK Rorys Aragón June 28, 1982 (1982-06-28) (age 28) 2 0 El Nacional 13 DF Miguel Ibarra September 8, 1984 (1984-09-08) (age 26) 4 0 Universidad Católica 14 FW Joao Rojas June 14, 1989 (1989-06-14) (age 21) 6 0 Emelec 15 MF David Quiroz September 8, 1982 (1982-09-08) (age 28) 20 0 Emelec 16 MF Antonio Valencia August 4, 1985 (1985-08-04) (age 25) 42 5 Manchester United 17 DF Jefferson Hurtado August 2, 1987 (1987-08-02) (age 23) 0 0 Barcelona 18 FW Jefferson Montero September 1, 1989 (1989-09-01) (age 21) 9 2 Villarreal 19 FW Marlon de Jesús April 9, 1991 (1991-04-09) (age 19) 1 0 El Nacional 20 MF Juan Carlos Paredes July 8, 1987 (1987-07-08) (age 23) 1 0 Deportivo Quito

Recent call-up

The following players have been recently called up in the past year.

Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club Latest Callup GK José Francisco Cevallos April 17, 1971 (1971-04-17) (age 39) 89 0 LDU Quito v. Chile; October 14, 2009 GK Alexander Domínguez June 5, 1987 (1987-06-05) (age 23) 0 0 LDU Quito v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 GK Marcelo Elizaga April 19, 1972 (1972-04-19) (age 38) 16 0 Emelec v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 GK Cristian Mora August 26, 1979 (1979-08-26) (age 31) 20 0 Universidad Católica v. Chile; October 14, 2009 DF Paúl Ambrosi October 14, 1980 (1980-10-14) (age 30) 35 0 LDU Quito v. Chile; October 14, 2009 DF Giovanny Espinoza April 12, 1977 (1977-04-12) (age 33) 88 3 Unión Española v. Uruguay; October 10, 2009 DF Ulises de la Cruz February 8, 1974 (1974-02-08) (age 37) 102 6 LDU Quito v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 DF Marcelo Fleitas September 1, 1973 (1973-09-01) (age 37) 5 0 Emelec v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 DF Jorge Guagua September 28, 1981 (1981-09-28) (age 29) 35 2 LDU Quito v. Chile; October 14, 2009 DF Iván Hurtado August 16, 1974 (1974-08-16) (age 36) 168 5 Deportivo Quito v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 DF Néicer Reasco July 23, 1977 (1977-07-23) (age 33) 48 0 LDU Quito v. Chile; October 14, 2009 MF Segundo Castillo May 15, 1982 (1982-05-15) (age 28) 45 2 Deportivo Quito v. Chile; October 14, 2009 MF Fernando Hidalgo May 20, 1985 (1985-05-20) (age 25) 13 0 Barcelona v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 MF Christian Lara April 27, 1980 (1980-04-27) (age 30) 28 4 LDU Quito v. Chile; October 14, 2009 MF Édison Méndez May 16, 1979 (1979-05-16) (age 31) 90 15 Atlético Mineiro v. Chile; October 14, 2009 MF Michael Quiñónez June 21, 1984 (1984-06-21) (age 26) 3 0 El Nacional v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 MF Pedro Quiñónez March 4, 1986 (1986-03-04) (age 24) 5 0 Emelec v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 MF Giancarlos Ramos April 2, 1978 (1978-04-02) (age 32) 0 0 Deportivo Cuenca v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 MF Edder Vaca December 25, 1985 (1985-12-25) (age 25) 2 0 Independiente José Terán v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 FW Iván Kaviedes October 24, 1977 (1977-10-24) (age 33) 55 17 Macará v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 FW Édison Preciado April 18, 1986 (1986-04-18) (age 24) 2 0 El Nacional v. South Korea; May 16, 2010 FW Edmundo Zura January 12, 1983 (1983-01-12) (age 28) 11 1 El Nacional v. Chile; October 14, 2009

Player records

Previous squads

Managers

Manager	Career	GP	W	D	L
Enrique Lamas	August 8, 1938–August 22, 1938	5	1	1	3
Ramón Unamuno	January 15, 1939–February 12, 1939	4	0	0	4
Juan Parodi	February 2, 1941–February 5, 1942	10	0	0	10
Rodolfo Orlandini	January 14, 1945–February 21, 1945	6	0	1	5
Ramón Unamuno	November 30, 1947–December 29, 1947	7	0	3	4
José Planas	April 3, 1949–May 3, 1949	7	1	0	6
Gregorio Esperón	February 28, 1953–March 23, 1953	6	0	2	4
José María Díaz Granados	February 27, 1955–March 23, 1955	5	0	0	5
Eduardo Spandre	March 7, 1957–April 1, 1957	6	0	1	5
Juan López	December 6, 1959–December 17, 1960	7	1	1	5
Fausto Montalván	March 10, 1963–March 31, 1963	6	1	2	3
José María Rodríguez	July 20, 1965–October 12, 1965	5	2	1	2
Fausto Montalván	December 21, 1966–December 28, 1966	2	0	1	1
José Gomes Nogueira	June 22, 1969–August 3, 1969	5	1	1	3
Ernesto Guerra	April 29, 1970–May 24, 1970	2	0	0	2
Jorge Lazo	June 11, 1972–June 21, 1972	4	0	1	3
Roberto Resquín	February 18, 1973–July 8, 1973	10	1	6	3
Roque Máspoli	June 22, 1975–March 20, 1977	19	5	4	10
Héctor Morales	June 13, 1979–September 16, 1979	8	3	1	4
Otto Vieira	January 27, 1981–February 14, 1981	2	0	0	2
Juan Eduardo Hohberg	May 17, 1981–June 14, 1981	4	1	1	2
Ernesto Guerra	July 26, 1983–September 7, 1983	6	0	4	2
Antoninho Ferreira	November 30, 1984–March 31, 1985	15	3	5	7
Luis Grimaldi	November 18, 1986–July 4, 1987	13	2	5	6
Dusan Dráskovic	June 2, 1988–September 19, 1993	56	17	17	22
Carlos Torres Garcés	May 25, 1994–June 5, 1994	2	2	0	0
Carlos Ron	August 17, 1994–September 21, 1994	2	0	1	1
Francisco Maturana	May 24, 1995–June 8, 1997	34	16	6	12
Luis Fernando Suárez	June 11, 1997–June 22, 1997	4	2	2	0
Francisco Maturana	July 6, 1997–November 16, 1997	7	3	1	3
Polo Carrera	October 14, 1999	1	0	0	1
Carlos Sevilla	January 28, 1999–July 7, 1999	15	3	6	6
Hernán Darío Gómez	October 12, 1999–July 23, 2004	66	24	18	24
Luis Fernando Suárez	September 4, 2004–November 17, 2007	51	17	9	25
Sixto Vizuete	November 21, 2007–July 11, 2010	22	9	7	9
Reinaldo Rueda	September 1, 2010–present	1	1	0	0

Notes and references

See also

• Ecuador women's national football team
• Ecuador national under-20 football team

External links

• Official website of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (Spanish)
• futbolecuador.com (Spanish)

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