📹 Gonzalo Plata seals comeback against Germany, sends Ecuador through | OneFootball

In New Jersey, in the United States, Ecuador came from behind to beat Germany 2-1 this Thursday (25), in the third round of the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Highlights coming shortly

After the loss to Ivory Coast in the opener (1-0) and the bitter draw with Curaçao (0-0), the South American team claimed its first win in this edition of the tournament.

And the victory came with a heavy dose of scares!

After all, Germany opened the scoring with less than two minutes on the clock.

In fact, Leroy Sané scored the second-fastest goal in the history of the four-time world champions at World Cups.

Ecuador did not let the early goal shake them and equalized through Nilson Angulo.

In the second half, with less than a minute played, Germany was awarded a penalty.

The South Americans got lucky because the referee was called to the VAR to confirm a foul at the start of the move, still in midfield.

And at the end of the match, after a corner into the box, Kevin Rodríguez got a touch with his head, and Flamengo forward Gonzalo Plata beat goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to the ball and poked it home to complete the comeback for Ecuador against Germany.

🚦 How it stands

With the win, Ecuador moved up to four points and secured third place in Group E, making it past the first round of the World Cup for only the second time in its history!

Despite the defeat, Germany secured top spot with six points.

Ivory Coast also finished on six points, but qualified in second place on the head-to-head tiebreaker (a 2-1 defeat).

Curaçao was eliminated with just one point, finishing bottom of the group.

As a result, Germany now waits to find out its opponent in the round of 32 next Monday (29), at 5:30 p.m. (Brasília time), against the third-placed team from Groups A, B, C, D or F.

Ivory Coast, which qualified for the World Cup knockout stage for the first time, will face the runner-up of Group I.

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

📸 MAURO PIMENTEL - AFP or licensors