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With Peru’s surprise victory over Venezuela, the Copa America saw Group C become the group of death ahead of the final round of group play. The cup intensified before the final round of group play where Group A also had a very little breathing room. In Group A, Chile and Bolivia entered the final round tied as group leaders with Chile standing in first place with 4 points and a +2 goal difference and Bolivia only one goal behind. Mexico drew both of their matches and accumulated 2 points while Ecuador suffered two consecutive defeats. The last time these two teams faced off was in a World Cup preparation match last year that saw Luis Montes of Mexico and Segundo Castillo of Ecuador both suffer harsh injuries that ended their world cup hopes. Today both of these men were on their respective team’s roster and both teams wanted their first victory of the cup.
Mexico and Ecuador began the final round with both teams eager to move to the elimination phase of the tournament.
The match saw some very early action when Ecuador’s Miller Bolaños received a ball at the top of the six yard box. His shot was weak and to the center of the goal. Mexico’s Jose De Jesus Corona was able to dive left and extend his right leg to make the first save of the match after only one minute and forty five seconds of play.
Inn the 6th minute Ecuador’s Cristian Noboa dared to take a shot from about 20 yards from the touch line on the left side of the pitch but once again it was met by Corona at the center of the goal for an easy save.
In the 24th minute Vicente Matias Vuoso nearly capitalized on an Ecuador mistake when he stole the ball from Ecuador’s Juan Carlos Paredes in his own 18 yard box. Vuoso cut and attempted to cleverly place the ball with finesse to the right side of the goal but his shot went wide.
The first goal of the match was Ecuador’s. In the 27th minute when a Mexico clearance was intercepted by the Ecuadorian midfield, the ball was pushed up field with a through ball to Enner Valencia who simply waited for Bolaños to run into position. Valencia then gave another through ball that Bolaños put away with ease eight in front of the Mexican goal.
The first half ended with Ecuador leading one to nothing. Ecuador came to the match with a set strategy that would remind any soccer fan of Chelsea’s infamous park the bus style when defending, and an explosive counter attack when given the opportunity to push forward. Ecuador has done everything according to plan. Their defensive line has been sturdy nd anytime a Mexican attacker receives a ball, there is an Ecuadorian defender already marking that player closely. Mexico struggled to retain the ball and complete passes. Because of this, Mexico was forced to play the long ball game. It almost seemed as if they were incapable of passing and receiving the ball on the ground comfortably. Ecuador was able to control the tempo and secure a first half lead.
The second bal began with Miguel Herrera changing his team’s formation from a 5-3-2 to a 4-4-2. He also substituted left back Efrain Velarde and in his place put in midfielder Javier Aquino.
In the 57th minute Ecuador once again capitalized on a Mexico mistake. Juan Carlos Medina lost a ball in the midfield that allowed Ecuador to steal the ball. The ball was then sent forward to Enner Valencia who ran the ball into the box and placed it at the bottom of the left post for Ecuador’s second.
In the 63rd a scramble inside the Ecuador 18 yard box during a corner kick led to a penalty kick in favor of Mexico. Hugo Ayala was brought down and the resulting penalty kick was put away down the center by Raul Jimenez who waited for Dominguez to dive before placing his shot. With less than half an hour left to play the score was now 2-1.
As if things weren’t bad enough for Mexico, in the 70th minute, Miguel Herrera was ejected from the match, leaving Mexico with no coach.
Shortly after Herrera’s ejection, Ecuador imposed themselves on the Mexican side and forced Mexico into the long ball game.
Ultimately, Mexico was unable to find their rhythm. Ecuador had better positioning throughout the game. They’re defensive formation allowed them to be present for the rebounds and the shear density of defenders in Ecuador’s half allowed them to recover the ball more with ease. The most important factor in the result was Ecuador’s strategy. They sat back and waited for Mexico’s mistakes. They were able to use their pace to beat Mexico’s defenders to tactical through balls and they were able to capitalize twice to eliminate Mexico from the competition