Defensive, wily and intense, Ecuador aim to make 2026 World Cup their best | World Cup 2026

LLast September, in the sweltering heat of Guayaquil, Ecuador completed its Conmebol World Cup qualifiers with a 1-0 victory over table leaders and defending champions Argentina. Enner Valencia, the 35-year-old journeyman and the country’s all-time top scorer, sealed the victory with a penalty in his 100th appearance. The Estadio Monumental roared with ecstasy and emotion.

Both teams had already sealed their qualification for 2026 and the visitors were playing without Lionel Messi, who had also bid farewell to qualifying after his final match in Buenos Aires a few days before. But none of these stories mattered to Ecuadorian fans. They recognized a magnificent countryside like The Tricolor finished second in the table, their best result since Conmebol qualifying moved to a single table. And this despite starting the campaign with a three-point penalty due to the use of documents containing false information to register Byron Castillo in the previous cycle.

It was a campaign of total resilience; Ecuador also hasn’t lost a match since September 6, 2024, a narrow 1-0 loss to Brazil. During this period, they have also conceded just one goal, with just five conceded across all of qualifying.

Ecuador’s trajectory may surprise some, but it is actually a natural extension of the growth of domestic football, an increase in the number of players plying their trade in Europe and a youth system that continues to produce stars. This is a national team that could participate in the World Cup next summer. Now, as they prepare for two friendlies against two hosts – the United States and Mexico – the goal and message from Ecuador’s perspective is simple: keep going.

“The challenge is to play these friendly matches with the same level of intensity as the official matches,” head coach Sebastián Beccacece said last week. “The United States and Mexico are very strong national teams and we want to beat them.”

Beccacece, and Argentinian, became head coach of Ecuador in August 2024, replacing Félix Sánchez after their defeat to Argentina in the quarter-finals of the Copa América. At 44, he is a fairly young manager who has never been international. He also has no professional gaming history. In Ecuador, he accepted one of the most coveted jobs in South American football, with a talented and hungry squad including Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo and PSG central defender Willian Pacho.

Yet, despite this alleged mismatch, Beccacece has instilled defensive discipline in a team that has now mastered the counter-attack thanks to an abundance of composure and pace. Under Beccacece, the low block is their friend, especially when it comes to protecting a lead and for them, defense – as the saying goes – truly wins championships. Due to this philosophy, some Ecuadorian media criticize the lack of offensive creativity. Among the South American teams qualified for the World Cup, Ecuador is the country with the lowest score, alongside Paraguay. But for the team, their stingy defensive unit is a symbol of pride. .

“We don’t play with five,” said Àngelo Preciado, a senior member of the team, when interviewed on popular Ecuadorian show Marca 90. on the need to play with such a crowded line. “I’m a great winger [first] but I try to help the defenders. It may be seen as a defensive action, but we play a different role.

The role Preciado is referring to is a collective responsibility to protect the goalkeeper and ensure no one enters the box. This team has made stubbornness an art form.

At Becca’s his lack of history as a player meant he rose through the coaching ranks, eventually working closely with Jorge Sampaoli as an assistant for the University of Chile where they won virtually every national title and the Copa Sudamericana in 2011. Eventually, they led the duo to the national team during Chile’s golden years, which included the World Cup in 2014 when Chile knocked out Spain in the round of 16. America a year later. Subsequently, he joined Argentine club Defensa y Justicia before Sampaoli contacted him again, this time as part of Argentina’s 2018 World Cup campaign.

He now leads a national team whose stature has grown through continued investment in national youth development and global outreach. Clubs such as Independiente del Valle and La Liga de Quito have implemented such strong projects at youth level that the country is now seen as a hub for European recruiters, particularly when it comes to central defenders. From the aforementioned Pacho to Piero Hincapié, the versatile defender who was part of Bayer Leverkusen’s historic Bundesliga title in 2023/24 and now plays for Arsenal.

However, every position has rising stars. Independiente del Valle, for example, has one of the best academies on the continent and continues to produce talents such as Caicedo, Preciado, Pacho and Club Brugge’s Joel Ordóńez. Then there are younger players like Kendry Páez, 18 (loaned to Strasbourg from Chelsea) and Patrik Mercado, 22. These clubs are now focusing much more than ever on infrastructure – analytically and technically.

For these upcoming friendlies against the USMNT and Mexico, Ecuador will not have Caicedo, Hincapié and Gonzalo Plata from Flamengo in order to give their respective clubs recovery time, with some injured. But it’s still a valuable chance for the other members to prove why they deserve a spot in next summer’s tournament.

Regardless of availability, Beccacece doesn’t really care if these are just friendly matches or not. At last week’s press conference, he ended with a call to action and a warning to anyone who might underestimate his team.

“We are striving to achieve the biggest World Cup in the history of the national team,” he said.

• Luis Miguel Echegaray is a writer, analyst and host specializing in football and sports-related content that also targets Latin American audiences and young audiences. He has previously worked at ESPN, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated and returns to the Guardian as a contributor.