Ecuador face Curazao with World Cup hopes on the line

Ecuador face Curazao on Friday in a match your team cannot afford to lose. The 1–0 defeat to Ivory Coast in the Group E opener, decided by a 90th-minute Amad Diallo goal, snapped a 19-match unbeaten run stretching back to September 2024 (1). Manager Sebastian Beccacece called that loss "unfair" after Ecuador registered 12 shots, but the table now demands a response. Only a win keeps the path to the top 32 alive. The squad trained through the frustration of a controversial sin-bin call that made Ecuador the first team to lose a player under the new rule, and the focus is squarely on Curazao.