Home advantage? Beccacece furious with World Cup set-up at Azteca | OneFootball

The Round of 32 clash of the 2026 World Cup between Mexico and Ecuador has already begun to be played with intense tension off the field. La Tri managed to reach this knockout stage as the third-place team in Group E thanks to a valuable win over Germany — a powerhouse that was later eliminated by Paraguay. That result set up the team led by Sebastián Beccacece against the Mexicans, one of the three national teams with a perfect record, who will have the advantage of playing on home soil for the fourth straight match.

For the Ecuadorian delegation, which played the entire group stage in the United States (with venues in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and New York), this trip marked its first journey outside U.S. territory. However, the arrival in Mexico City was far from ideal. Beccacece himself made sure to publicly express his deep frustration to reporters at the press conference ahead of the all-or-nothing showdown at the Estadio Azteca.

“It ended up taking nine hours: excuse the fatigue”

The Argentine head coach did not hide his annoyance over the severe delays that disrupted the squad’s planning in the hours leading up to a crucial match. “We were delayed three hours more than had been scheduled, and we don’t really know why. We were supposed to arrive at the hotel at six in the evening, and the players still haven’t arrived. A flight that was three and a half hours, plus the hour and twenty minutes it took to get from the airport to the hotel, ended up taking nine hours. Excuse the fatigue,” the manager said bluntly.

To conclude his complaint, Beccacece drew a clear contrast between the organization they experienced during the first stage of the tournament and the problems they faced upon setting foot on Mexican soil, sending a direct message to those responsible for the tournament’s logistics: “Let me also say that in the previous matches everything was exact. Credit where credit is due. In Philadelphia, New York, and Kansas, everything was really very well organized in every detail; everything was carried out in a very precise way. Here, it has not been the same.”

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