Flamengo's Anthony Valencia starts, helps Ecuador score in Panama defeat | OneFootball

Ecuador lost to Panama this Monday (05), ending their ‘Asian tour’ without a win

The Ecuador national team suffered their third consecutive defeat since Argentine coach Marcelo Gallardo took charge. Ecuador thus ended their Asian tour and participation in the Kirin Cup, a friendly tournament, without a win.

In the early hours of Monday (05), ‘La Tri’ drew 1–1 with Panama at Tokyo’s National Stadium. However, they lost 7–6 on penalties, marking their third consecutive defeat since Argentine coach Marcelo Gallardo took charge.

HOW DID THE MATCH UNFOLD?

Panama opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Josué Vergara latched onto a cross and beat goalkeeper Gonzalo Valle at the second attempt to make it 1–0. Ecuador struggled to create scoring opportunities and went into halftime trailing.

For the second half, Gallardo made four substitutions, bringing on John Yeboah, Juan Riquelme Angulo, Nilson Angulo and Pedro Vite. These changes gave Ecuador more energy, and they found the equalizer in the 57th minute through a right-footed shot from Riquelme Angulo, following a move involving Yeboah and Flamengo forward Anthony Valencia. However, the score remained unchanged, and the match went to penalties.

HOW DID THE PENALTY SHOOTOUT UNFOLD?

Ecuador converted six penalties, but misses from Anthony Valencia and Riquelme Angulo, who failed to convert the decisive spot kick, sealed their defeat. Panama also missed through Víctor Griffith but won 7–6.

HOW HAS GALLARDO’S START AS ECUADOR COACH BEEN?

This is Marcelo Gallardo’s third defeat in charge of ‘La Tri’. In his debut, Ecuador lost 3–0 to South Korea. In their second match, the Ecuadorians were beaten on penalties by Japan.

The friendly against Panama concluded the September/October extended FIFA international window for Ecuador, marking the end of the break in club fixtures, which is scheduled to finish this Tuesday (06). Ecuador will therefore return to action in November for another round of fixtures.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.