Turkiye, Ecuador, and the Art of Disappointing Everyone In The World Cup | OneFootball

The World Cup is officially in full flow.

Mexico have won all four of their games, reaching the Round of 16. Canada, the USA and Paraguay are other sides punching above their weights so far.

But there are “dark horses” we haven’t talked about. The flip side of the coin. Turkiye and Ecuador. Two teams that were seen as surprise picks to maybe top their groups, led by some of the best talent in the world, and the best in their countries’ histories.

Turkiye has been seen as a team that just looks to be getting better and better. Longtime midfield general Hakan Calhanoglu has evolved into one of the world’s most renowned midfielders during his spell at Inter. Kenan Yildiz, who only turned 21 last month, is looking like he’s going to lead Italian giants Juventus for the next generation.

Then you have the de facto leader of this Turkish team, Arda Guler. The former Fenerbahce man is also just 21, and over the past season has become a mainstay in one of the most talent-filled squads in the world at Real Madrid.

Turkiye had also left a lasting impression on the world at the Euros just two years ago, with a famous 3-1 win against Georgia courtesy of some wondergoals by Mert Muldur and Arda Guler. The side would make it to the quarterfinals that year, even holding a lead against the Netherlands until the 70-minute mark, after which the Dutch would score two quick goals to turn it around. So, despite their bad reputation as dark horses in tournaments gone by, such as the group stage exit at Euro 2020, the world was willing to take a chance on Turkiye again.

So it was the Crescent Stars who, after beating Kosovo and Romania, would go into a group with the United States, Paraguay, and Australia. In Turkiye’s short World Cup history, it was the best group they’d ever had, in terms of being able to get out of it. Many people, myself included, had them finishing over even co-host United States to top the group.

Their first two matches would be against Australia and Paraguay. Against the Aussies, Turkiye dominated. 30 shots, 72% possession, and playing most of the match in Australia’s final third. However, when the full-time whistle came, the final score was 2-0 to Australia. Eight shots from star man Arda Guler, none of which provided much threat. Australia’s Patrick Beach came up with eight saves, which, while impressive, also displayed Turkiye’s lack of finishing.

Despite hopes of learning from past mistakes, Turkiye picked up against Paraguay where they left off against Australia. After a long-range strike within the first 100 seconds from Matias Galarza, it was the exact same, final third action, 32 shots this time, and 79% possession. Turkiye was even up a man for the entire second half after Miguel Almiron’s red card for the new mouth-covering rule.

And still, despite a full 90-minute shift from Kenan Yildiz, Turkiye still was unable to put even one past Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill, who was forced into just five saves from Turkiye’s 32 shots.

It’s not like Turkiye is starved of attacking options. Besides the aforementioned Yildiz and Guler, the Crescent Stars boasted Galatasaray veterans Kerem Akturkoglu and Baris Alper Yilmaz, Frankfurt prodigy Can Uzun, and Porto man Deniz Gul.

Then we move to Ecuador. While their quarter-final run in the Copa America didn’t look all too impressive on paper, they did take eventual winners Argentina to penalties, something no other team could manage that summer.

Most of their hype had come from the seemingly astronomical growth their country had managed in the time since then.

First, there was incredible growth in the country’s stars. Moises Caicedo has become one of the world’s best defensive midfielders, Willian Pacho has led PSG’s backline to consecutive Champions League wins, and Piero Hincapie has become a key figure in Arsenal’s first Premier League win and Champions League final appearance since the 2000s.

Even then, it was a team that looked toothless against Côte d’Ivoire in their first match, losing the match to a 90th-minute Amad Diallo winner. The game was fairly even in terms of possession and chances, but Ecuador was just unable to trouble the Ivorian keeper in any meaningful way.

However, all that could change in the second match against Curacao, who had just lost 7-1 to Germany the previous match, and represented an opportunity for a win as well as goal difference for the Ecuadorians.

Ecuador would go hard at Curacao, star midfielder Moises Caicedo would create one big chance and complete a further four key passes in his total of 100 completed passes throughout the match. Ecuador would have a total of six big chances, had 75% possession, a total of 27 shots, and put 15 shots on target – they had to get the win.

But somehow, some way, Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room, who plays for Miami FC – not Inter Miami, but USL club Miami FC, made 15 saves, levelling American goalkeeper Tim Howard’s record breaking number made against Belgium in 2014. It finished 0-0. Ecuador somehow had failed to beat a nation of just 150,000 on the world’s biggest stage.

Ecuador, like Turkiye, failed to score in their opening two matches, and crashed out of the tournament to Mexico. So, what went wrong for Ecuador? Perhaps their issues are more noticeable.

Firstly, this is manager Sebastian Beccacece’s first true senior national team management gig. He had been Jorge Sampaoli’s assistant for Chile in the 2014 World Cup and for Argentina in 2018, but has since stepped out of the Argentine’s ever-encompassing shadow to Ecuador. He’s been the manager of several club teams before in Chile, Argentina, and Spain, but this is his first true major tournament as a manager, taking over for Ecuador shortly following Copa America two years ago.

Then, you have the forward line of Ecuador. Their front two in the draw to Curacao were a 36-year-old Enner Valencia and a winger, Gonzalo Plata. Besides that, they feature Brighton fullback Pervis Estupinan on the left wing, and on the right John Yeboah, who boasts the magnificent resume of playing for Venezia, Polish club Rakow, Duisburg, Almere City, among other German and Dutch clubs. Even then, they should be enough to put at least one past a Curacao side ranked 59 places below them in the FIFA rankings.

In the end, what can cause these underdogs to underperform like this? Well, it comes down to exactly what they are – underdogs. By definition, an underdog is expected to lose, so it shouldn’t be surprising when they end up losing. It’s all a part of the World Cup. In Qatar, many expected teams like Denmark and Uruguay to have deep underdog runs, but both crashed out in the groups – Denmark won only a point across their three group matches.

Underperforming underdogs are part of what makes a World Cup, not every small team can go deep. And when a team like Turkiye or Ecuador eventually ends up making a deep tournament run, it’ll make all the pain worth it. Their times are coming. For Turkiye, Guler and Yildiz are both still just 21, with limited experience.

Frankfurt golden boy Can Uzun is also just 20, and all three still have at least a decade left at the top level. These tournaments are the types of experiences and battle scars that can lead to deeper runs in future tournaments, especially if Turkiye can add more talent.

The same thing goes for Ecuador. Caicedo, Pacho, and Hincapie are all still just 24, fellow young star Joel Ordonez is just 22, and Chelsea wonderkid Kendry Paez is just 19, all of whom have time to grow and develop into stars. There’s no reason why Ecuador isn’t going to be a much better, more experienced, and greater team in the next few tournaments following this one.

In conclusion, in every World Cup we see underdogs splutter out and fail massively. Turkiye and Ecuador perhaps just got the wrong side of the coin, but it’ll end up being good experience to learn from in the future. For now, it’s time to enjoy the underdogs who have actually delivered, and watch the worldwide spectacle that is the World Cup.