Ecuador summoned to play with Venezuela and Chile, for the South American qualifier for Qatar-2022, the majority of players with whom they garnered four of nine points in October, with the exception of their striker Enner Valencia, marginalized by injury.
‘Superman’ Valencia (Fenerbahce, Turkey), the top gunner in the tricolor’s history with 34 units -three more than retired Agustín Delgado-, will be the great absentee due to an ankle problem, whose recovery would take up to two months.
The scorer converted three of the four goals scored by Ecuador in October.
Also forward Michael Estrada (Toluca, Mexico) was in turn cited despite the fact that he will have to meet a suspension date for accumulating two cautions.
Estrada has scored five goals in the current qualifying rounds, in which the top scorer is the Bolivian Marcelo Martins (8).
The list announced by the Ecuadorian Soccer Federation (FEF) includes 19 players who are active in foreign clubs, mainly from Mexico (five teams) and the United States (three).
They were also called footballers who perform in Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Spain, England and Uruguay.
In October, the tricolor – under the command of Argentine strategist Gustavo Alfaro – managed to beat Bolivia 3-0 at home and lost 2-1 to Venezuela on the road and drew 0-0 with Colombia.
Next Thursday he will receive the vinotinto in Quito, for the thirteenth date of the South American qualifiers, and five days later he will return the visit to Chile, with which he equaled 0-0 last September.
Ecuador, which remains in the qualifying zone for ten days online, is third with 17 points, behind Brazil (31) and Argentina (25) and above Colombia (16 and 0 goal difference) and Uruguay (16 and -3).
Ecuador’s staff is:
Archers: Alexander Domínguez (Cerro Largo, Uruguay), Pedro Ortiz (Emelec), Hernán Galíndez (Catholic University) and Moisés Ramírez (Independiente del Valle).
Defenses: Piero Hincapié (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Christian Cruz (Liga de Quito), Roberth Arboleda (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Angelo Preciado (Genk, Belgium), Félix Torres (Santos Laguna, Mexico), Byron Castillo and Luis León (Barcelona ), Pervis Estupiñán (Villarreal, Spain), Xavier Arreaga (Seattle, United States), Diego Palacios (Los Angeles, United States) and Jackson Rodríguez (Emelec).
Frills: Carlos Gruezo (Ausburg, Germany), Ángel Mena (León, Mexico), Moisés Caicedo (Beerschot VA, Belgium), Jhegson Méndez (Orlando City, United States), Janner Corozo (Delfín), Alan Franco (Atlético Mineiro, Brazil), Michael Carcelén (Barcelona), Joao Rojas (Emelec) and Jeremy Sarmiento (Brighton, England).
Forwards: Ayrton Preciado (Santos Laguna, Mexico), Djorkaeff Reasco (Quito League), Gonzalo Plata (Valladolid, Spain), Jordy Caicedo (CSKA Sofía, Bulgaria), Bryan Angulo (Cruz Azul, Mexico) and Michael Estrada (Toluca, Mexico) . (AFP)