Post-Friendly Thoughts

Okay. So Ecuador lost 0-1 yesterday to the Netherlands in a friendly played in the Amsterdam Arena. What can fans of La Tri take away from the match?

On the one hand, holding the world’s No. 3 team to a 0-1 scoreline on their soil is pretty impressive, especially for an Ecuadorian side that has had little luck in Europe. To be sure, Hollard were heavy favorites to win by multiple goals. The Dutch were missing some quality players—including Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who evidently came down with the flu—but Ecuador were also without several players, including their top goalscorer Augustin Delgado. So from that perspective, it’s hard to get a definitive storyline from the match.

Picking a Man of the Match from the Ecuadorian side is difficult, if only because no one really stood out. Given that he made several really nice saves, I’ll go with Cristian Mora. It’s not yet clear who will start in goal for La Tri this summer, but after last night’s performance, I gotta think it’ll be Morita.

Carlos Tenorio played pretty well up front, serving much of the time as a lone striker. When paired with the injured Augustin Delgado, Ecuador should have a better attacking set.

Here are three things La Tri need to address in their upcoming friendlies and this summer: (1) keep better control of the midfield in order to equalize the time of possession a bit; (2) defend high crosses better (this could be a real issue against certain teams and players, such as Germany’s Miroslav Klose); and (3) for heaven’s sake: do not dilly dally at the beginning of havles! Letting the Dutch have complete control of the first 15 minutes of each half was really the difference in an otherwise close match.

Ecuador coach Luis Suarez seemed pleased enough: “This match was very important for us to show what we are capable of tactically and mentally. The Dutch are strong opponents and one of the favourites to win the World Cup.” It’s also comforting to know that meaningless coachspeak can be found in any language.