Ecuador World Cup Preview

Best Ever Finish: Round of 16 (2006, Lost 1-0 to England)

Manager: Gustavo Alfaro

Key Player: Enner Valencia

World Cup Group: Qatar, Senegal, Netherlands.

Ecuador will be hoping to make amends for missing the last World Cup in Russia and try to replicate their 2006 World Cup performance in Germany, where they reached the round of 16 before being dispatched by England.

La Tricolor finished fourth in qualifying, beating out tough South American counterparts Chile, Venezuela and Peru. Ecuador secured their place at this years World Cup with a dramatic 90+3 minute equaliser against giants Argentina.

The illustrious goal came from captain and former West Ham player Enner Valencia, who bagged the rebound off his own penalty late in the half, sending his country to the World Cup.

Ecuador have been poor in recent friendlies, only scoring twice in the last five games. They open the World Cup fixtures in a competitive game against Qatar on November 20, where they will hope to gain an advantage to progress to the group stage.

Alfaro's men will be hopeful in getting out of the group, but with the Netherlands looking to reach the depths of the competition, it could be a close fight between Senegal and Qatar to see who qualifies.