Ecuador Advances in Copa América Despite Controversial Draw with Mexico: Inside the Tension Among Players

Although Félix Sánchez Bas anticipated that it would be wrong to seek a draw against Mexico – a result that would have been enough for Ecuador to go to the second round of the 2024 Copa América – that was what the Tricolor did: they went out not to lose. The National Team suffered, and although the international press described the Spanish coach’s game plan as “petty” and “speculative”, the 0-0 eliminated the Aztecs and qualified the national team.

‘We are a very close-knit group, let’s not make anything bigger out of it’, the reaction after an argument between Carlos Gruezo and Moisés Caicedo

The harsh criticism leveled at the Spanish coach and his team for the 1-0 defeat in their debut against Venezuela, a setback that was accompanied by poor collective and individual performance, could be repeated if the Mexicans won. After being outplayed in the course of the match, watching in anguish as a shot from the Concacaf team crashed into the post, and coming back to life thanks to the VAR overturning the decision on a penalty against them in the minutes of added time, the Ecuadorian footballers exploded when Guatemalan centre-back Mario Escobar declared the end of the match without goals.

Alexander Domínguez collapsed on the pitch. Alan Minda and Kevin Rodríguez were praying on their knees, hugging each other. Enner Valencia was shaking hands with Ángel Mena, his old teammate at Emelec; Willian Pacho, Piero Hincapié and Alan Franco were raising their hands to the sky. All of this, while from the substitutes’ bench the rest of the tricolors jumped as if propelled by springs and ran onto the field to be part of a massive celebration.

Verbal duel

From the stands at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, some of the thousands of Ecuadorian fans who attended – whom Carlos Gruezo criticized in a press conference for not traveling across the United States to fill the stadium in Santa Clara, California, on the day of the loss to the Vinotinto – recorded with their cell phones not only the party of the national team but also the unexpected verbal exchange between Gruezo and Moisés Caicedo. The discussion could have ended in something bigger.

The San Jose Earthquakes midfielder, from the MLS, was leaving the field of play when something seemed to catch his attention. Gruezo impetuously and saying something inaudibly, he walked towards where Moisés Caicedo was with other teammates. Did the Chelsea midfielder say something that made Gruezo angry?

They had to stop him

Rodríguez, Enner, Mena, Jeremy Sarmiento and some other tricolor players stopped Gruezo. In this way they prevented him from attacking Niño Moi. Could the initial fight have ended in a fist fight? In several images of the event it is possible to notice Gruezo’s enormous annoyance with Caicedo. In one of the videos you can even clearly hear the MLS player shouting at the Premier League player, while Kevin Rodríguez pushes him away: ‘come, come, come!’, while with his right hand he points to a place that cannot be specified, but it is where Gruezo mentions Caicedo.

Valencia explained the unusual event thus: “That happens in many games, things end up heated. Your head is going a mile a minute and these things happen, but afterwards in the locker room we are all fine.”

Complaint at a press conference

Did Gruezo’s reaction have anything to do with the fact that he reproached Ecuador’s fans for supposedly not singing the national anthem with enthusiasm against Venezuela, at the start of the 2024 Copa América, and that Caicedo took a different position?

What did Lionel Messi say about the Ecuadorian national team, Argentina’s rival in the quarter-finals of the Copa América?

The Chelsea player, after Gruezo’s complaints, who shared responsibility between the fans and the press for the loss against the Vinotinto, kept in touch with the fans. In addition, after declaring that “everything stayed on the field,” Niño Moi thanked the Ecuadorians for the support given in the key encounter with Mexico. There were no vetoes, like Carlos Gruezo. (D)

2024-07-02 15:50:00
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