The game against Australia
At halftime, having fallen behind 0–3, having failed to maintain possession of the ball — having played horribly — we Ecuadorians were calm.
Some of us were chipper. Segundo Castillo walked off embracing Australia’s Tim Cahill, his Everton ex-teammate.
Coach Rueda decided he’d experimented enough. For the next period, he restored four of his regulars to the field.
Suddenly, Australia seemed very poor.
Final score: Ecuador 4, Australia 3. Also, Énner Valencia missed a tap-in. Also, we were refused some penalty kicks. (The bashful ref already had awarded one to each team.) The winning goal was by our super-sub, Old Man Méndez.
At IUSB this morning, jersey-wearers strutted. I greeted some of them in Spanish. They looked at me like, “What the hell.”
Some of us were chipper. Segundo Castillo walked off embracing Australia’s Tim Cahill, his Everton ex-teammate.
Coach Rueda decided he’d experimented enough. For the next period, he restored four of his regulars to the field.
Suddenly, Australia seemed very poor.
Final score: Ecuador 4, Australia 3. Also, Énner Valencia missed a tap-in. Also, we were refused some penalty kicks. (The bashful ref already had awarded one to each team.) The winning goal was by our super-sub, Old Man Méndez.
At IUSB this morning, jersey-wearers strutted. I greeted some of them in Spanish. They looked at me like, “What the hell.”