The Ecuadorian team could not go beyond a goalless draw against Iraq in the friendly played this Saturday at the Cívitas Metropolitano and thus showed their lack of goals, even with Gonzalo Plata missing a penalty at the last moment, since he has only achieved two goals in the last six preparation matches for a World Cup in Qatar that they will open against the host on Sunday the 20th and to which they still arrive with the doubt of whether there will be a Byron Castillo who left the field due to injury after 36 minutes of the match.
As expected, Ecuador dominated the match from the beginning. They had the ball without much opposition from an Iraqi team that, although they committed fewer fouls in the first half -six to the 13 of the South American team-, they did so more harshly.
So much so that in the 35th minute, Castillo had to leave the pitch. Protagonist in recent months due to the claims of Peru and Chile about his place of birth -they claimed that it was Colombia and not Ecuador-, with the confirmation this Tuesday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) that Ecuador could play in Qatar 2022 and the declarations in the last hours of the Ecuadorian ambassador in Qatar that he was not going to be part of the final list -which the coach Gustavo Alfaro will announce on Monday, November 14-, was the starter.
Active in attack, with the whole band for him, playing right back, but his momentum soon ended. A hard tackle by Alai Hussain with both legs down, like a pincer, caused Byron Castillo’s left foot to get stuck and, after being treated by the doctors for several minutes, he had to leave the pitch with a noticeable limp.
Just three minutes later Félix Torres also came close to leaving the game after another tough tackle, but was ultimately left in a scare. Iraq wanted to counter Ecuador’s quality superiority with a tough game; and the ‘tri’ got stuck.
Goalkeeper Jalal Hassan Hachim stopped Ecuador’s first big chance with a strong first-time shot from outside the area by Diego Palacios in the 11th minute and seven minutes later a bad start of his, unable to catch the ball, was close to assuming the 1-0.
Without major occasions, although there was an increase in tension due to the entrances of the Iraqi players, until the 64th minute when Gonzalo Plata, one of the stars of Ecuador, had the initial goal in his boots, but his left-footed shot cleared it the rival goalkeeper.
In the 71st minute Kevin Angulo also tried his luck with a long shot that went over the crossbar. Ecuador, who finished with 73% possession, continued to try to overcome the poor dynamics in front of goal that they were going through, trying several times with lateral crosses, but to no avail.
Not even a penalty in the last moment of the match could give Ecuador a joy. Gonzalo Plata assumed responsibility for the penalty after the referee signaled a hand inside the area, but goalkeeper Hachim guessed the side of the shot, to his right, and frustrated a ‘tri’ who caressed the goal that resisted him so much .
In the absence of Gustavo Alfaro communicating the final list for Qatar 2022 next Monday, one day before traveling to Doha, where the rest of its great figures will already be, the ‘tri’ closes its last friendly preparation adding 270 minutes without celebrating a goal.
In the 90th minute of the match, a spontaneous jumped onto the pitch to hug Ángel Mena. (D)
lineups
Ecuador: Alexander Dominguez; Byron Castillo (Robert Arboleda, 36), Félix Torres (Johanner Chavez, 45), Xavier Arreaga, Diego Palacios; Alan Franco (Djorkaeff Reasco, 45), Jhegson Méndez (Marco Angulo, 45), José Cifuentes (Kevin Rodríguez, 63); Ángel Mena, Romario Ibarra (Gonzalo Plata, 45); Enner Valencia. DT: Gustavo Alfaro.
Irak: Jalal Hassan; Zaid Tahseen (Karrar Amer, 88), Ali Faez Atiyah, Munaf Younis, Ibrahim Bayesh; Amir Al-Ammari (Sajjad Jasim, 90), Alail Hussain, Amjad Attwan (Hamzah Adnan, 78), Alexander Aoraha (Shihab Razzaq, 45); Alaa Abbas (Ammar Muhsen, 45) y Aymen Hussein (Hussein Jabbar, 78). DT: Radhi Shenaishil Swadi.
Referee: Gustavo Correia (Portugal). He warned Djorkaeff Reasco (82) of Ecuador. Amjad Attwan (14), Shihab Razzaq (53), Ibrahim Bayesh (65) and Munaf Younis (81) are from Iraq.
Estadio: Cívitas Metropolitano (Madrid, Spain).
