The is the national team of
Ecuador and is governed by the
Federación Ecuatoriana De Fútbol . It was for a long time one of the weaker teams in
CONMEBOL , but it has recently had more success, making their first
World Cup qualification in
2002 , and qualifying again for the
2006 World Cup in which they made the last 16, losing to
England .
Detractors of the team have sometimes sought to attribute their success to their advantage in acclimatisation to playing matches at altitude in finals have lessened this tendency.
Although without any major tournament achievements until the current millennium, Ecuador was never short of footballing talent.
They first participated in qualifying in the
1962 campaign but were well beaten by
Argentina over two games. However, the
1966 qualifying campaign pitted the side, regarded as one of the finest teams Ecuador has ever produced, against 1962 hosts and third-place finishers
Chile and a weakened
Colombia . Ecuador, featuring stars such as Washington Muñoz,
Alberto Spencer , Carlos Raffo, Enrique Raymondi and Jorge Bolaños, forced a play-off in Peru before being eliminated by Chile.
This remained the closest they had come to appearing in a finals until the
Qualification Tournament For The 2002 FIFA World Cup In Korea And Japan in which they finished second to
Argentina , and one point ahead of
Brazil who went on to win the World Cup.
Agustin Delgado , with 9 goals, finished joint top scorer in qualifying with
Hernán Crespo of
Argentina .
Álex Aguinaga ,
Iván Kaviedes ,
Iván Hurtado and
Ulises De La Cruz were other stars of the Ecuadorian campaign, led by
Colombian born manager
Hernán Darío ''Bolillo'' Gómez . Although they were knocked out at the group stage, they achieved a 1-0 victory over
Croatia , who had come third at the previous edition of the World Cup.
A disappointing showing at the
2004 Copa América in
Peru led to the resignation of Gómez, who was replaced by another
Colombian ,
Luis Fernando Suárez . He lead them successfully through the latter stages of the
Qualification Process For The 2006 FIFA World Cup , finishing third to make the finals. In Germany, they were drawn into Group A with
The Hosts ,
Poland , and
Costa Rica . Wins over Poland and Costa Rica earned ''La Tri'' qualification to the knockout stages for the first time.
Their best finish in
Copa América was fourth in
1993 (they also finished fourth in the 'extra' South American Championship in
1959 ).
In the
2007 Pan American Games , the Under-17 side won the gold medal and their first ever title in an international
Football tournament.
1
Ecuador was placed in group G, alongside
Mexico ,
Italy and
Croatia .
#
3 June 2002 Italy - Ecuador 2-0
#
8 June 2002 Ecuador - Mexico 1-2 (Delgado)
#
13 June 2002 Ecuador - Croatia 1-0 (E.Mendez)
Ecuador was placed in group A, alongside
Germany ,
Poland and
Costa Rica .
#
9 June 2006 Poland 0 - 2 Ecuador (C.Tenorio, Delgado)
#
15 June 2006 Ecuador 3 - 0 Costa Rica (Delgado, C.Tenorio, I.Kaviedes)
#
20 June 2006 Ecuador 0 - 3 Germany (Klose 2, Podolski)
#
25 June 2006 England 1 - 0 Ecuador (Beckham)
Ecuador qualified for the second time to a
FIFA World Cup by finishing third in the CONMEBOL qualification tournament. They were drawn in Group A, alongside hosts
Germany ,
Poland , and
Costa Rica .
Ecuador won 2-0 against
Poland in their first game, with goals from
Carlos Tenorio and
Agustin Delgado . They then beat
Costa Rica 3-0, thus securing their qualification to the next round, the goals coming from
Carlos Tenorio ,
Agustin Delgado , and
Ivan Kaviedes . Their qualification complete, they rested key players against the hosts
Germany and were beaten 3-0. Ecuador thus took second place in group A behind
Germany and faced
England in the second round. A second half free kick from
David Beckham was the only goal of the game, and Ecuador were eliminated 1-0.
Head coach:
Luis Fernando Suárez
22 men squad for
Copa America
The following players have all recently been called up to the Ecuador squad within the last 16 months. Bracket shows last call-up time.
