Ecuador vs Curaçao: Match Preview | OneFootball

Ecuador suffered a disappointing loss in the first game, so they will want to take their frustration out on someone. Unfortunately for Curaçao, it could be them. Both teams are coming into this game with a loss each, and whoever loses will have a very little chance of reaching the knockout stage.

Let’s get into this match.

Ecuador’s First Game

Ecuador had high expectations coming into this World Cup because of their fantastic qualifying campaign. They finished second in the notoriously long and challenging CONMEBOL campaign despite being docked three points in the beginning.

With world class players and household names such as Moises Caicedo, Piero Hincapié, and Willian Pacho on the roster, it’s not only Ecuadorians, but fans around the globe who are excited to see them play.

However, despite the very pro-Ecuadorian crowd in their opener, they fell to Ivory Coast.

Luck certainly wasn’t on their side as they hit the woodwork twice. But question marks remain on who will step up to score goals for them if Enner Valencia can’t. Their all-time record goal scorer is already on the wrong side of his 30s.

Curaçao’s First Game

Curaçao made history the first time by becoming the smallest nation to qualify for a World Cup both on population and land area. The debutants are here to just enjoy the experience, because these players didn’t even dare to dream about playing in a World Cup in the past.

They then made another history a second time in the first game, where they scored the nation’s first ever World Cup goal. This drew them level 1-1 with the mighty Germany, and the celebrations were wild for seventeen minutes. But then Die Mannschaft struck again. The flood gates then opened and they lost the game 7-1. However, Curaçao have nothing to lose in this tournament and they will want to enjoy another World Cup experience on Saturday.

Match Preview

Since 2002, Ecuador have made the World Cup five out of seven times. Unfortunately, they’ve made the knockout stage just once.

In that Ivory Coast game, they repeated the same mistakes they made back in 2014 (against Switzerland) or in 2022 (against Senegal). In both cases they had most of the chances, could not capitalize ,and ended up giving up late winners.

Both times, they got knocked out from the group stage. So they will want to make sure the same doesn’t happen this time, especially with eight third place teams being able to get to the next stage.

For that to happen, Ecuador will have to score a lot against Curaçao and try to get something from the third game against Germany. So on Saturday, they will have to play a very attacking game.

Curaçao, on the other hand, will want to shore up the back after what happened against Germany.

They are not a bad team; they got past Jamaica in the qualifiers for a reason. They may have given up seven goals against a world class team like Germany but against Ecuador and Ivory Coast, Curaçao know they have the quality to keep it tight at the back.

With Ecuador struggling to score goals, this game just might be a lot closer than people think. Let’s see what Curaçao can do.

Prediction: Ecuador 2-0 Curaçao