Plata assists as Ecuador draw with Brazil's World Cup rivals | OneFootball

Gonzalo Plata stood out in Ecuador’s draw with Morocco

Flamengo forward Gonzalo Plata is currently on a collision course at the club. However, with the Ecuador national team, his prestige remains intact. This Friday (27), the Flamengo player started and provided an assist in the 1-1 draw with Morocco, in a friendly played at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.

Plata was on the field for the full 90 minutes and, as usually happens at Flamengo, played drifting down the right wing in attack. The performance of the Flamengo player and his Ecuador teammates should be studied by Brazil. After all, the five-time world champion will face Morocco in the World Cup on June 13.

IN SHORT, HOW DID THE GOAL HAPPEN?

Three minutes into the second half, John Yeboah found Plata inside the box, and the Flamengo player held the ball up and laid it off for his teammate, who arrived and struck it left-footed, with class, to open the scoring for Ecuador.

BUT DID GONZALO PLATA ALMOST TURN INTO THE VILLAIN?

Shortly after the assist, Plata almost became the villain for Ecuador. In the 15th minute, the forward conceded a penalty. From the spot, El Aynaoui was denied by Hernan Galíndez. On the rebound, Ismael Saibari sent it into the back of the net. The Flamengo player rushed toward the referee, complaining about encroachment. After a long delay, the referee confirmed the goal was disallowed.

In the final minutes, Ecuador completely sat back to protect the result, and Gonzalo Plata became something like a left back, staying deep in defense to track the runs of Morocco wing-back Achraf Hakimi. However, the tactic did not work. In the 43rd minute, Morocco sent a corner into the box, and El Aynaoui beat Gonzalo Plata in the air to level the score.

SO WHEN IS ECUADOR’S NEXT MATCH?

After facing African side Morocco, Ecuador will now take on a European team. On Tuesday (31), Gonzalo Plata’s team will face the Netherlands at 3:45 p.m. Brasília time. The match will be played at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

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