And cry, and cry, and cry Maradona! is what this chant translates into from Spanish (without the fun rhyming of course.) Maradona is one of the world's best players and the captain of the 1986 Argentinian squad that won the World Cup. Needless to say, Ecuadorian fans do not see him in quite this positive a light. Rather, he is the hated coach of one of the South American soccer teams that stands between the Ecuadorian national futbol team and qualification for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
On June 10, a group of friends (all fans of the Tricolor of course) went to the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa to sit under the giant flag section and watch these two rival teams face-off. At the time, both teams were about equal in the standings - just on the cusp of qualification. This is not an unusual position for Ecuador - it usually makes the World Cup, sometimes doing quite well. Nonetheless, it is not considered an historically dominant team in the mold of Brazil or Italy.
On this afternoon however, the Ecuadorian team looked the part. A rough first 20 minutes was capped by a penalty called within the box. However, Ecuador's goal-keeper came up huge, making a spectacular save on the penalty-kick that turned the momentum 180 degrees around. For the next 70 minutes, Ecuador controlled the game entirely. They ended up winning 2-0, nearly 3-0 but for a shot that just ricochet off the post. The pictures tell the rest of the story.
And cry, and cry, and cry Maradona! is what this chant translates into from Spanish (without the fun rhyming of course.) Maradona is one of the world's best players and the captain of the 1986 Argentinian squad that won the World Cup. Needless to say, Ecuadorian fans do not see him in quite this positive a light. Rather, he is the hated coach of one of the South American soccer teams that stands between the Ecuadorian national futbol team and qualification for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
On June 10, a group of friends (all fans of the Tricolor of course) went to the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa to sit under the giant flag section and watch these two rival teams face-off. At the time, both teams were about equal in the standings - just on the cusp of qualification. This is not an unusual position for Ecuador - it usually makes the World Cup, sometimes doing quite well. Nonetheless, it is not considered an historically dominant team in the mold of Brazil or Italy.
On this afternoon however, the Ecuadorian team looked the part. A rough first 20 minutes was capped by a penalty called within the box. However, Ecuador's goal-keeper came up huge, making a spectacular save on the penalty-kick that turned the momentum 180 degrees around. For the next 70 minutes, Ecuador controlled the game entirely. They ended up winning 2-0, nearly 3-0 but for a shot that just ricochet off the post. The pictures tell the rest of the story.
1 comment:
Buen partido Frente Argentina
Próximamente ***ECUADOR***
en el Mundial,
¿Te compró la Entrada? jajaja
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