{"id":5175,"date":"2026-06-21T03:05:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T03:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=5175"},"modified":"2026-06-21T03:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T03:05:59","slug":"4-takeaways-from-curacaos-inspiring-win-vs-ecuador-at-the-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=5175","title":{"rendered":"4 Takeaways From Cura\u00e7ao&#039;s Inspiring Win vs. Ecuador At The World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Ecuador had 3.08 expected goals. Cura\u00e7ao had Eloy Room.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>That was the whole match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>In a Group E must-win in Kansas City on Saturday, Ecuador and Cura\u00e7ao ground out a goalless draw that the scoreline flatters. La Tri piled up nearly 30 shots and three-quarters of the ball, and walked off with one point. Both sides now sit on a single point and their knockout math is hanging by a thread.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Here are my takeaways:<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Maja Hitij &#8211; FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>3.08 expected goals. Fifteen shots on target. Zero actual goals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Ecuador were ruthless everywhere except in the one place it counts. At the back, they were untroubled \u2014 Cura\u00e7ao managed 0.48 xG all night. In front of goal, it was a comedy. Five big chances were missed; the frame rattled, and attackers squandered one-on-one opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Which brings us to Enner Valencia. He&#8217;s thirty-six years old, still leading the line, still the reference point in the box \u2014 and still the man who fluffed two of the clearest looks of the night. He owns six World Cup goals, a national record, and every one of them feels like it was scored back in the Renaissance era. Reverence is lovely. It doesn&#8217;t put the ball in the net. At some point, manager Sebasti\u00e1n Beccacece has to ask himself whether it&#8217;s time to move on and give someone else a chance up front.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Hakan Akgun\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>First, Vozinha had an out-of-body experience for Cape Verde against Spain. Now this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Eloy Room made 15 saves on Saturday against Ecuador. Fifteen. One week after fishing the ball out of his own net seven times against Germany, the Cura\u00e7ao keeper produced the goalkeeping performance of the tournament \u2014 diving, parrying, smothering, reading Ecuador's barrage like he'd been handed the script in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>He finished one short of history. Tim Howard's 16 saves against Belgium in 2014 remain the single-game World Cup record \u2014 but Howard needed extra time to get there. Room was cooking in 90 minutes flat, against a side that had 75% possession and was shooting from everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>A nation at its first World Cup, ranked outside the top 80, seven days removed from a 7-1 humbling. This is the stuff statues are made of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Charlotte Wilson\/Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Ecuador are two games in and yet to score. That isn&#8217;t bad luck. It&#8217;s a structural flaw.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The spine is genuinely top class. Chelsea&#8217;s Mois\u00e9s Caicedo bossed the midfield, setting tempo and snuffing out everything Cura\u00e7ao tried on the break. Behind him, Willian Pacho (PSG) and Piero Hincapi\u00e9 (Arsenal) form one of the best young center-back pairings at this tournament. That 0.48 xG against tells you how little ever reached Hern\u00e1n Gal\u00edndez.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The problem is everything ahead of that spine. Beccacece threw on attackers \u2014 Gonzalo Plata, John Yeboah, Nilson Angulo, Kevin Rodr\u00edguez \u2014 and none could finish. The subs were aggressive; the personnel let him down. He&#8217;s built a team that controls World Cup matches. He now has to find one that can win them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Germany is through. Everyone else is sweating.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Die Mannschaft beat Ivory Coast 2-1 earlier in the day to lock up the round of 32 with a game to spare. That leaves three teams clawing at the scraps: Ivory Coast on three points, Ecuador and Cura\u00e7ao tied on one \u2014 split only by Cura\u00e7ao's shocking goal difference, a gift from Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>The draw helped no one chasing. Ecuador needed three points and a goal-difference swing; they got neither, and now must beat an already-qualified Germany on Matchday 3. Cura\u00e7ao kept the dream flickering but still needs to beat Ivory Coast and pray the third-place math falls their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-a2155f14>Two minnows, one heroic point, and a bottom three that all still believe. Just don't ask Ecuador to score.<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Ecuador had 3.08 expected goals. Cura\u00e7ao had Eloy Room. That was the whole match. In a Group E must-win in Kansas City on Saturday, Ecuador and Cura\u00e7ao ground out a goalless draw that the scoreline flatters. La Tri piled up nearly 30 shots and three-quarters of the ball, and walked off [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}