Juan Carlos Maygua
Ecuador and Ivory Coast faced each other in Philadelphia Stadium to complete the activity in group E. Following the result between Germany and Curaçao, both teams knew a win would be vital for their qualifying aspirations down the line. Ecuador had the advantage of being the home team and the individual momentum from the players in the squad.
However, Ivory Coast had history behind them and wanted to repeat the heroics made by Senegal 4 years ago. The stage was set and without knowing it, the group outcomes would technically be set by the end of the game.
Ecuador had a promising setup, having Enner Valencia alongside Gonzalo Plata and John Yeboa gave a sense of security for the attack. Senegal would depend heavily on their physicality and their midfield duo Frank Kessie and Seko Fofana. In fact they started with a defensive approach and gave up most of the possession in the opening minutes of the game. This allowed Valencia to drop and Gonzalo Plata more freedom to move between the lines. The first significant opportunities came within the 20th minute mark for Ecuador. The high press forced Ivory Coast to misplace passes in midfield and gave way for both John Yeboah and Alan Minda to have two consecutive shots on target. Had it not been for the crossbar the game would have taken a different tone.
Ivory Coast held off well but started relying on Nicola Pepe and Yan Diomande. Both wingers had attacking power and speed to challenge Ecuador’s backline.
Nevertheless their attack was more physical throughout the match. Ivory Coast played the waiting game and slowly wore down Ecuador. In fact, it was Ecuador’s own mistakes that opened opportunities for Ivory Coast. The substitutions isolated Valencia and caused the team to lose attacking power. This allowed Diomande to showcase his talent. The winger was able to bypass Piero Hincapié and Willian Pacho successfully. Not many have been able to do that recently so it definitely speaks volumes of his quality.
Ecuador’s biggest mistake was settling for the draw. The game was open until the 89th minute. Ivory Coast only needed one attack with enough space down the wing for Amad Diallo to find the back of the net with a placed shot to beat Hernan Galindez. The last minute goal left them with no space to answer back. The result leaves Ecuador with a more complicated path for the ticket into the knockout stages. They now need to secure a win against Curaçao with a big goal margin to secure a best third place finish. Ivory Coast will be looking to hold off Germany, but if they manage a draw or a win, their ticket is more than secured.
Nevertheless, the group remains open and as of right now only Germany seems to have secured their spot. However, this is mainly due to goal difference. If you take into account some the results like Spain and Cape Verde or Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, I wouldn’t be surprised if Curaçao pulls an unexpected result in the coming games.
