Last-Minute Goal Sinks Ecuador

2-1

What a roller coaster of a match. A game full of blunders and bad luck for both sides ended up with another victory for El Tri. Both teams had their on-and-off moments of possession and energy, and a draw would’ve been more than fair for both teams.

As for Nery, he couldn’t get the ball in no matter how much he begs it.

The choice of Chase Field to host the match didn’t turn out to be too bad. I wasn’t there, but from one of the pictures below, the atmosphere looked neat. And the monitors in the stadium looked huge. The only thing awkward was the weird spot on the field where the sand was supposed to be.

Ecuador scored their first goal in the 7th minute from an Isaac Mina header from a corner kick. At this point, Mexico began to get desperate but couldn’t score for the entire half. The passes were intercepted often and our strikers could barely get past the defense.

The supposed “star” of the match, Nery Castillo, played the usual Nery Castillo match: some okay passes but no effectivity. Some of the chances he had could’ve been goals if he had taken at least an extra second to think. Considering he hasn’t played a competitive match in months, it wasn’t too bad. Sven must be out of his mind if he starts Nery in the match against Honduras.

Leobardo Lopez scored in the beginning of the second half with a header from a corner kick, almost the same way Ecuador scored their first in the first half. Mexico woke up at this point and began providing better service and moving the ball. The possession was mostly Mexico’s in this half, and a bunch of Ecuador fouls led to a bunch of set pieces for El Tri.

Ecuador had great chances in the second half but thanks to Memo Ochoa’s brilliance, the Ecuadorians were denied of a second goal.

It took a last-minute goal by Matias Vuoso to win the match for Mexico. After a foul outside of the box, Sinha provided a good shot in the box and it took two headers for the ball to go in.

Well deserved victory? Who cares, it was just a friendly. This match will probably have no effect on the mentality of the squad against Honduras as most of these players won’t even travel to Honduras. However, a smaller sense of pride is more than helpful for the mountain we have to climb that is defeating Honduras and securing a spot in the hexagonal.

Lineup:

1.-Guillermo Ochoa, 2.- Diego Martínez, 3.- Fausto Pinto, 4.- Edgar Dueñas, 5.- Oscar Rojas (19.- Loebardo Lopéz 46’), 6.- Gerardo Torrado (7.- Jaime Correa 67’), 9.- Vicente Matías Vuoso, 15.- Fernando Arce (8.- Sinha 46’), 17.- Francisco Fonseca (14.-Edgar Castillo 58’), 21.- Nery Castillo (18.- Cesar Villaluz 71’), 22.- Francisco Torres (11.- Israel Martínez 46’).

Some match pics:

Highlights: