Express News Service
A lot can change over ninety minutes of football.
It is safe to assume that, of the millions that tuned in to watch the Netherlands take on Ecuador, the vast majority did so to see the Oranje in action. However, at least some of them, if not most, would have left the stadium or switched off their televisions utterly mesmerised by the spirit with which the Ecuadorians played the game. They might have worn blue against the Dutch, but on a usual day, they wear yellow shirts and blue shorts. On Friday, in terms of sheer entertainment, they would have given the other team in yellow and blue a run for their money.
Ecuador’s football team are the unlikeliest of heroes. No author of South America’s illustrious football history would devote more than a footnote to them — they did not even qualify for a World Cup until 2002. There were question marks over their participation in Qatar until just a few days before the tournament after Chile filed a complaint alleging they had fielded an ineligible player in the qualifiers.
Off the field, their footballers often come from nothing. According to official figures in 2020, 33 per cent of their 18.6 million people were living in poverty. For many people, football is a break from reality. And this team has been making that break all the more memorable. “We are a very impoverished country. A lot of ups and downs for so many, but for 90 minutes, the country stops and supports this group,” says Braulio Perez, an Ecuadorian journalist.”Everyone supports the team. I live in New York, but I flew down here to watch the games with my mom, dad and brother. This team is bringing people together,” he adds.
When he took over, Ecuador’s Argentinean coach Gustavo Alfaro too recognised that he was in charge of more than just a team. “When I was unveiled as national team coach, I was told: “We’re placing the hopes of 17 million people in your hands, coach.” However, it wasn’t about their hopes, I’d been given the responsibility not to let a whole nation down,” Alfaro had told FIFA’s website last year.
Alfaro, a former Boca Juniors manager whose only experience of international football was doing commentary at World Cups, had another challenge. Ecuador’s football team was in transition. The old guard, which included the likes of former Manchester United player Antonio Valencia, was on its way out after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The next generation, though, looked even more promising. In 2019, Ecuador’s U20 team finished an impressive third at the U20 World Cup.
Many of the players that were coming through had their feet firmly on the ground thanks to the harsh realities that produced them. “From a young age, these kids leave their hometowns and make their way to the big clubs’ youth squads. Antonio Valencia is a great example — he’s from Lago Agrio and took a bus at a young age to the Quito area to play for El Nacional which is in Tumbaco,” says Perez. The left-back Pervis Estupinan, one of the standout performers on Friday, sold empanadas in the street and was a ball boy in a tennis court frequented by the affluent, before leaving his hometown, Esmeraldas, aged 11.
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The talent was there, as was the grit. And in Alfaro, they found the right coach. Ecuador’s World Cup qualifying campaign is littered with impressive numbers. With an average age of 26, La Tri had the youngest squad in South American qualifying and fielded the most number of players under 20. They only lost a single home game, held both Brazil and Argentina to draws, and convincingly routed the likes of Uruguay and Colombia, the latter by six goals to one. As impressive as they were against the Dutch, it feels like the beginning of something that will eventually be vastly superior.
There is a poignant subplot to this story. In 2013, national team striker Christian Benitez died in Doha after suffering a respiratory failure. He was playing for the Qatari club El Jaish at the time and was just 27. Nine years later, it is his one-time teammate Enner Valencia who has scored all three of Ecuador’s goals in Qatar so far.
On Friday, when the entire Ecuador team celebrated Valencia’s goal by getting down on their knees and pointing to the heavens, Benitez may well have been looking down and smiling.
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