By Mark Gleeson
June 12 (Reuters) - Ecuador's miserly defence will be put to the test in their World Cup Group E opener against the Ivory Coast on Sunday at the Philadelphia Stadium, where the South Americans will look to stretch their unbeaten run to 20 matches.
Ecuador's last defeat came against Brazil in Curitiba in September 2024 in the early stages of World Cup qualifying, and they have conceded only six goals during that run, five of them in friendlies.
They finished second in South American qualifying
to book a World Cup berth for a fifth time, all since their 2002 debut.
The Ivorians were even stingier in defence as they completed their 10 qualifiers without conceding a single goal, but the quality of opposition they faced was weaker than the teams Ecuador had to play against.
Since securing a spot at the tournament in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., the African side have impressed with comfortable warm-up wins over South Korea and Scotland in March and a 2-1 triumph away against France in Nantes last week.
The Ivorian forward line, with teenager Yan Diomande leading the line and support coming from Simon Adingra and Amad Diallo on the flanks, is expected to test Ecuador’s steely defence to the maximum and provide the potential for an exciting clash.
The Ivorians' attack has been bolstered after former French junior internationals Ange-Yoan Bonny and Elye Wahi recently switched allegiance and were included in the squad.
They will be up against an experienced Ecuador defence, which includes Willian Pacho, who anchored the Paris Saint-Germain backline in their Champions League shootout triumph over Arsenal, for whom Piero Hincapie played all 120 minutes at left-back.
In front of that defence sits Chelsea's Moises Caicedo, who many consider to be the best defensive midfielder in the world, and it is perhaps not too hard to see why Ecuador managed 13 clean sheets in 18 South American World Cup qualifiers.
With Germany the favourites in their group, this match could be the one to settle second place, though both Ecuador and the Ivory Coast have loftier ambitions.
Ecuador have only once previously advanced out of the group phase, while the Ivorians, returning to the World Cup for the first time since 2014, have never reached the knockout stages.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
