Ecuador Player Quotes Post-England

What some of the Ecua players had to say after the team’s 0-1 second-round loss to England. Per FIFA:

Luis Valencia
We gave our all on the pitch and I’m happy with the work of all the team. We had a little bit of bad luck today. I think that England could play more offensively.

Agustin Delgado
We showed to the world today that Ecuador have a very good team. We worked step by step in this World Cup but I’m very sad because this is our last game. We were happy here and we enjoyed it.

Giovanny Espinoza
We can hold our heads up high because we’ve proved we can play good football. On a personal level, I’ve learned a lot at this tournament.

Ivan Kaviedes
Before we came here, the press in Ecuador and elsewhere wrote off our chances. Now I’m sure they’ll have an inquest into what happened and why we’re out.

Ivan Hurtado
I feel very privileged to have experienced all this. We’re a little sad to be going home but we can hold our heads up high when we get there. Now we’ve got to make sure we qualify for South Africa 2010. European teams don’t improvise much. They play a simple, direct game, but they don’t take any risks.

Carlos Tenorio
We weren’t quite up to standard and we weren’t able to go raise our game. I’m happy though, and it doesn’t get any bigger than this for a player. If that shot in the first half hadn’t hit the crossbar, it might have been different, but it’s just a question of luck.