Mexico battled Ecuador to a 1-1 tie in their final friendly match of the October FIFA break. Mexico bounced back from their dismal performance against Colombia but it wasn’t enough to get a victory against the CONEMBOL
side. Mexico will now wait for the last FIFA date break of the year in November, where they will face off against Uruguay and Paraguay. Ecuador will travel to North America again and face off against Canada and New Zealand.
The 1st half started with a number of changes from the match against Colombia, with only Cesar Montes, Johan Vasquez and Erik Lira repeating from that starting 11. Two minutes into the match, Pedro Vite bounced off a pass of Erick Sanchez and it would fall into the path of German Berterame, who got into the area and got off a right footed shot past Ecuador’s goalkeeper, Hernan Galindez to score and give Mexico the early lead. After the nightmare match against Colombia, it was great news that Mexico was able to get an early goal against such a defensive squad. John Yeboah got off a left footed shot that was easily saved by Mexico’s goalkeeper, Raul Rangel. After a free kick wasn’t cleared, the ball fell to Hirving Lozano, whose right footed shot went just wide. After Mexico won a ball, the ball went to a wide open Luis Romo, who then found Julian Quiñones in the area, whose right footed shot would go just wide in a play where Romo should have made a shot on goal. A bad back pass from Romo would be won by Enner Valencia in the area, who got brought down in the area by Rangel. After going to VAR, the referee decided to give Ecuador the Penalty Kick. Jordy Alcivar took the PK and with a right footed shot, he would score it past Rangel to tie the match at 1-1. Sanchez got the ball in the area, where he made a good move but then got off a left footed shot that went wide in a bad miss. Ecuador subbed out injured Angelo Preciado for Kendry Paez. Israel Reyes got the ball in the area and got off right footed shot that forced Galindez to make a good save. A great cross from Lozano was headed wide from close range by Berterame. A cross into the area was headed by Sanchez but it went easily to Galindez’s arms. After a combination play, a cross from Mateo Chavez almost got deflected into the net for a goal. Yeboah got off a left footed shot that went just wide. After getting into the area, a low cross from Paez would be stopped by Rangel. The halftime whistle blew with a tied score although Mexico had been the better team.
The 2nd half started with Ecuador subbing out Alan Minda for Nilson Angulo. From outside the area, Erik Lira would get off a shot that would go wide. Off a corner kick, a cross into the area was headed from close range by Valencia but Rangel was right there to handle it. Ecuador had a chance when Rangel came off the line and the ball bounced off Valencia and go into the path of Angulo, whose cross into area also bounced off Valencia and then was cleared by Mexico’s defense. Mexico subbed out Hirving Lozano, Luis Romo, and German Berterame for Cesar Huerta, Marcel Ruiz and Santiago Gimenez. A couple of harsh fouls between sides started to heat things up. Ecuador subbed out Enner Valencia and Pedro Vite for Leonardo Campana and Patrik Mercado. From way outside the area, Alcivar got off a right footed shot that forced Rangel to make a save. After a harsh foul by Sanchez, a big scuffle between players started with Montes earning a Yellow card. Mexico subbed out Julian Quiñones and Erick Sanchez for Alexis Vega and Alexis Gutierrez. Ecuador subbed out John Yeboah and Yaimar Medina for John Mercado and Jhoanner Chavez. Huerta got off a strong cross that was just out of reach of Chavez. A great thru pass from Gimenez would find Ruiz in the area but his right footed shot was saved by Galindez in a good chance. From outside the area, Mercado got off a left footed shot that went well wide. The match ended and although Mexico was slightly better, the tie was a fair result.
Mexico bounced back somewhat after a terrible match against Colombia but it could only get a tie. Still it was a much better performance all around and Mexico was the slightly better team against Ecuador although not enough to say that a tie was an unfair result. Both teams came out with alternate squads and yet Ecuador is not only going to the World Cup but they finished in second place of CONMEBOL qualifying even when they came into the Qualifiers with a three point deduction for their use of Byron Castillo in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers when he was born in Colombia. Ecuador is also one of the toughest defensive side in the World and Mexico was able to score early on although a bad mistake let to a tie. Coach Javier Aguirre made changes that let to improvement although overall he still might have a lot of doubts especially since Raul Rangel didn’t have a great performance although it was a lot better than the disastrous match that Luis Malagon had against Colombia. Mexico will now have to face off a tough Uruguay on November 15th in Torreon, Mexico and then travel to San Antonio to face off against Paraguay on November 18th.
