Ecuador 4, Uruguay 2
Well, that went better than I expected.
Our first goal came early, while the Uruguayans, ranked sixth in the world, were still just trying to defend. It brought them out of their half of the field for the rest of the game and made them vulnerable to counterattacks.
We poached the second goal on halftime’s stroke.
Our third goal assured our victory moments after the second half began. VAR had just rescinded a goal of Uruguay’s.
(By the end of the game, VAR would disallow three goals and award one penalty.)
Gonzalo Plata, one of the Sub-20 World Cup’s heroes, scored our fourth goal with panache. Like other important contributors to this game, he was trained at Independiente del Valle.
(And I’d worried that these youngsters would lack the composure and confidence to score.)
Uruguay scored its two goals with late penalty kicks.
So: after two games, we’re in fifth place. We have three points, four goals in favor, and three against (all penalties). And the crucial home fixture against Uruguay is behind us.
Suddenly …
there were much bigger worlds again …
and some small place in them for me.
Our first goal came early, while the Uruguayans, ranked sixth in the world, were still just trying to defend. It brought them out of their half of the field for the rest of the game and made them vulnerable to counterattacks.
We poached the second goal on halftime’s stroke.
Our third goal assured our victory moments after the second half began. VAR had just rescinded a goal of Uruguay’s.
(By the end of the game, VAR would disallow three goals and award one penalty.)
Gonzalo Plata, one of the Sub-20 World Cup’s heroes, scored our fourth goal with panache. Like other important contributors to this game, he was trained at Independiente del Valle.
(And I’d worried that these youngsters would lack the composure and confidence to score.)
Uruguay scored its two goals with late penalty kicks.
So: after two games, we’re in fifth place. We have three points, four goals in favor, and three against (all penalties). And the crucial home fixture against Uruguay is behind us.
Suddenly …
there were much bigger worlds again …
and some small place in them for me.