The final game Friday finished up the second round in Group E, with Ecuador facing Honduras in a South/Central American matchup.
Judging by the first few seconds, it appeared that Ecuador's way of dealing with Honduras' very physical play was to just go to ground and hope for fouls.
Honduras opened the scoring (for the game, and for their country) in the 31st minute, with Costly taking advantage of a terrible misplay by the Ecuadoran center back.
It took only a couple of minutes for Ecuador to equalize, though, when a shot from the top-left of the box deflected off the inside of the leg of a defender and straight to Valencia for an easy tap-in.
Honduras had some great free kick attempts at 45 minute mark, and bigger controversy came about in stoppage time, as they scored, but was disallowed by refs. Unclear exactly why, although might have been a handball. For sure, Bengtson got a yellow card out of the mess.
One thing that was interesting was that Honduras had just about no chances via gradual build-up. It was pretty much all counterattacks and attacks over the top. In the 63rd, they actually scored again (arguably, for the third time in the game), but it was disallowed for being offsides.
Ecuador missed one just after, when Guagua's header went way off-base. But it only held them up for a minute, as they scored for real on a mirror-image play that did make it into the net.
One semi-game-related thing that came up from the commentator. They said that Honduras was not a good team playing from behind, and wasn't good at scoring. Those were mentioned separately, but I think they're inextricably linked. I think, to be a good team playing from behind, you must be very good offensively.
A little bit more controversy came in stoppage time, when Ecuador also had a goal disallowed, perhaps because of a handball call. But not as big a deal as the earlier ones, as it affected the team already about to win. On the replay, there was a handball, but it didn't seem at all deliberate, so a little bit weird.
Regardless, like mentioned, it didn't have any effect on the outcome, so not a big deal.
So yes, the final favored Ecuador, 2-1. So Honduras will be going home, but certainly didn't look like they didn't belong in the tournament.
Showing posts with label ecuador. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ecuador. Show all posts
20140616
Pelota helvetica
I missed the Ivory Coast/Japan game (second one I've totally missed) late Saturday night. I'm shocked to see that Cote d'Ivoire won without Yaya Toure on the score sheet.
I did see all three games yesterday, though, starting with Switzerland and Ecuador. With Switzerland ranked sixth, and Ecuador twenty-sixth, I expected a comfortable and confident win from the Swiss.
But the game was tight, through its entirety, with neither team able to really dominate possession (did the Swiss get where they are via counterattack, maybe?). And both teams managed to generate a number of chances. Unfortunately, I missed the Ecuadoran goal in the 22nd minute and the Swiss goal in the 48th due to in-room distractions (better known as children).
It was a pretty sloppy game, though, with a lot of careless turnovers by both teams.
One thing I was looking forward to was watching Shaqiri play for Switzerland. I'd seen him playing in a UEFA Cup game (for FC Basel, maybe?), and was really impressed (especially as he's built more like a linebacker than a midfielder). He didn't have a great game, yesterday; not terrible, but he wasn't driving play forward.
Regardless of that, the game stayed tied all the way to stoppage time of the second, when Seferovic (I wonder how Switzerland has ended up with so many eastern european players) cut across the goal to deflect a pass into the net. It was a very nice goal, although I must admit that I was sure Seferovic was offsides, but the refs didn't see it that way (and they never showed a replay where you could be certain).
It was quite the job of snatching victory from the jaws of indecision. I imagine that'll be good enough to move Switzerland on, but both their remaining games should be interesting. France because they're both good sides, and Honduras because they're so physical. I wouldn't expect physical play to get even noticed by a few of the Swiss, including Shaqiri.
And Ecuador? They're toast; only question is if they'll be able to go home with a win by beating Honduras. But they should be proud of playing such a close game against a top-notch team. I guess, if it wasn't a fluke due to poor play by Switzerland, they might be able to give France a run for its money.
I did see all three games yesterday, though, starting with Switzerland and Ecuador. With Switzerland ranked sixth, and Ecuador twenty-sixth, I expected a comfortable and confident win from the Swiss.
But the game was tight, through its entirety, with neither team able to really dominate possession (did the Swiss get where they are via counterattack, maybe?). And both teams managed to generate a number of chances. Unfortunately, I missed the Ecuadoran goal in the 22nd minute and the Swiss goal in the 48th due to in-room distractions (better known as children).
It was a pretty sloppy game, though, with a lot of careless turnovers by both teams.
One thing I was looking forward to was watching Shaqiri play for Switzerland. I'd seen him playing in a UEFA Cup game (for FC Basel, maybe?), and was really impressed (especially as he's built more like a linebacker than a midfielder). He didn't have a great game, yesterday; not terrible, but he wasn't driving play forward.
Regardless of that, the game stayed tied all the way to stoppage time of the second, when Seferovic (I wonder how Switzerland has ended up with so many eastern european players) cut across the goal to deflect a pass into the net. It was a very nice goal, although I must admit that I was sure Seferovic was offsides, but the refs didn't see it that way (and they never showed a replay where you could be certain).
It was quite the job of snatching victory from the jaws of indecision. I imagine that'll be good enough to move Switzerland on, but both their remaining games should be interesting. France because they're both good sides, and Honduras because they're so physical. I wouldn't expect physical play to get even noticed by a few of the Swiss, including Shaqiri.
And Ecuador? They're toast; only question is if they'll be able to go home with a win by beating Honduras. But they should be proud of playing such a close game against a top-notch team. I guess, if it wasn't a fluke due to poor play by Switzerland, they might be able to give France a run for its money.
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