The woes of Énner
By now, you must know that Ecuador “mopped the floor” with the Chileans, 3 to 0. The first two goals were tallied before the 25th minute. The third goal was scored in the initial moments of the second half. Commentators agree that many more goals could have been attained.
Énner Valencia, in particular, put himself into scoring position again and again, only to waste chance after chance.
Shortly before the game was concluded, Énner was substituted out with an “injury.” He was taken in an ambulance to a clinic. The police jogged several yards behind Énner, putting on a show of chasing him. He was not arrested inside of the stadium.
Since then, Énner’s legal troubles have been resolved: at least, he’s been allowed to board the plane to El Alto (tomorrow, Ecuador will play against the Bolivians, in La Paz). Meanwhile, Énner is using Twitter to defend himself to the public. He maintains that he already has paid lots of support to his child’s mother (who is an inadequate parent, he alleges). He’s trying to obtain custody of the little girl so that she can go to school in England, where he resides.
All of this may yet lead to a happy ending. Please pray for Énner and his family, and pray for Ecuador to defeat Bolivia.
Here are replays from the game against the Chileans. One silver lining of Walter Ayoví’s absence is that Christian Ramírez, his twenty-two-year-old understudy, performed superbly. (I’d been worrying about Ecuador’s vulnerability at Walter’s position, left-fullback.) Ramírez even scored the second goal, flying into the box from well outside of it, expressing a shrewd sense of what was required at that time.
Énner Valencia, in particular, put himself into scoring position again and again, only to waste chance after chance.
Shortly before the game was concluded, Énner was substituted out with an “injury.” He was taken in an ambulance to a clinic. The police jogged several yards behind Énner, putting on a show of chasing him. He was not arrested inside of the stadium.
Since then, Énner’s legal troubles have been resolved: at least, he’s been allowed to board the plane to El Alto (tomorrow, Ecuador will play against the Bolivians, in La Paz). Meanwhile, Énner is using Twitter to defend himself to the public. He maintains that he already has paid lots of support to his child’s mother (who is an inadequate parent, he alleges). He’s trying to obtain custody of the little girl so that she can go to school in England, where he resides.
All of this may yet lead to a happy ending. Please pray for Énner and his family, and pray for Ecuador to defeat Bolivia.
Here are replays from the game against the Chileans. One silver lining of Walter Ayoví’s absence is that Christian Ramírez, his twenty-two-year-old understudy, performed superbly. (I’d been worrying about Ecuador’s vulnerability at Walter’s position, left-fullback.) Ramírez even scored the second goal, flying into the box from well outside of it, expressing a shrewd sense of what was required at that time.