Ecuador 4, Bolivia 0
With an eye on their upcoming home match against Paraguay, the Bolivians rested almost all of their starters. They brought a team of youngsters to Ecuador.
One of them committed an atrocious handball in the penalty box.
Not a good strategy in the Era of VAR.
Red card.
Penalty kick converted – barely – by Enner Valencia … who, two minutes later, assisted Gonzalo Plata.
Game over.
This was a cakewalk for us. I’ve never seen a game handed over quite so blatantly.
“Not a real game,” said the Peruvians who narrated my broadcast. I agree.
I had prayed for an anxiety-free contest. Boy, wasn’t it ever. It was dull.
After the fourth goal, and with half an hour remaining, we brought on a handful of subs who ran around like headless chickens, trying to score. They didn’t.
It could have been five, six, seven goals.
We’ve played eleven games; scored only ten goals (four of them last night); stayed comfortably within the qualification zone. Failed to inspire. I’ve yet to enjoy any of our matches. Our defenders are superb. Our attackers are bottomless wells of disappointment. The coaches tried too hard to defend early in the cycle, and we never got into a goalscoring groove.
We’ll play in Colombia on Tuesday. That might be our hardest remaining contest.
One of them committed an atrocious handball in the penalty box.
Not a good strategy in the Era of VAR.
Red card.
Penalty kick converted – barely – by Enner Valencia … who, two minutes later, assisted Gonzalo Plata.
Game over.
This was a cakewalk for us. I’ve never seen a game handed over quite so blatantly.
“Not a real game,” said the Peruvians who narrated my broadcast. I agree.
I had prayed for an anxiety-free contest. Boy, wasn’t it ever. It was dull.
After the fourth goal, and with half an hour remaining, we brought on a handful of subs who ran around like headless chickens, trying to score. They didn’t.
It could have been five, six, seven goals.
We’ve played eleven games; scored only ten goals (four of them last night); stayed comfortably within the qualification zone. Failed to inspire. I’ve yet to enjoy any of our matches. Our defenders are superb. Our attackers are bottomless wells of disappointment. The coaches tried too hard to defend early in the cycle, and we never got into a goalscoring groove.
We’ll play in Colombia on Tuesday. That might be our hardest remaining contest.