Manchester United player Lisandro Martinez scored with a header for Lionel Scaloni’s “Albiceleste” in the 35th minute. Enner Valencia missed a penalty for Ecuador in the 61st minute, but Kevin Rodriguez equalized in the first minute of injury time.
Since extra time is not scheduled for the Copa, with the exception of the final, the match went straight to penalties. Star striker Lionel Messi, who missed the last group match against Peru due to a leg injury and was substituted on after half-time, missed Argentina’s first penalty. He hit the crossbar with a “Panenka lob”. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made up for this mistake by saving the Ecuadorians’ first two attempts.
America Cup
Schedule and tables
The reigning South American and world champions Argentina had a perfect group phase without losing a point or conceding a goal. With 15 titles to date, Argentina is the record champion of the Copa America. In the fifth Copa semi-final in a row, they will face the winner of the duel between Venezuela and Canada on Tuesday.
Ecuador’s negative streak continues
For the Ecuadorians, however, the defeat continued their negative streak at the Copa. The “Tricolor” has not beaten a South American team in the tournament for 23 years. The team’s only victories since 2001 have been against visiting teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean. In the other quarter-finals, Venezuela and Canada will meet on Friday, Colombia and Panama on Saturday and later Brazil and Uruguay.
So far, rather modest audience interest
In a way, the Copa in the USA also serves as a test run for the organizers for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held jointly with Canada and Mexico. However, the number of spectators at the continental tournament has so far left a lot to be desired. The only draws were Argentina and Brazil, otherwise there were no sold-out games. There are concerns that the host USA also failed to fill the stadiums.
At the US opening match against Bolivia (2-0), fewer than 48,000 fans attended the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium, while at the 1-2 defeat to Panama, 59,145 of the 71,000 seats in the Mercedes Benz Stadium were occupied. The Arrowhead Stadium was also not sold out for the final 0-1 loss against Uruguay, which sealed the US team’s elimination. All of these arenas will also host the World Cup in two years’ time, with the majority of the group stage matches being played in the USA.
At other matches, the arenas were not even half full. The reasons for this are likely the extreme heat and significantly more expensive tickets than at the current European Championship in Germany, which is enjoying great public interest. The continental association of the national associations of South America (CONMEBOL) pointed out that one million tickets had been sold by the end of the group phase and that there will probably be 1.5 million by the end of the tournament. That’s how many fans watched the 2016 Copa in the USA.
