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FIFA World Cup 2026

Student of Life said:
Curaçao 🇨🇼 goalie was amazing against Ecuador 🇪🇨.
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Eloy Room - I saw him play for Columbus Crew numerous times. He was fairly solid at MLS levels and was part of our 2020 title-winning team. His legacy at Columbus is pretty mixed, however, as he had some injury issues and publicly held some, shall we say, very divisive, political views that I and many others strongly disagree with.
 
Student of Life said:
Curaçao 🇨🇼 goalie was amazing against Ecuador 🇪🇨.
Click to expand...

Not to take anything away from Room's performance, but he really didn't have to make any top class saves. Ecuador kept shooting straight at him, time and time again. It was incredibly frustrating. We knew scoring goals would be a question mark for Ecuador, but they've struggled more than I ever expected. So disappointing.

Their defensive core should be intact for the next World Cup cycle, with Pacho, Hincapie, Ordonez, and Caicedo all being 24 or younger. Can Ecuador actually develop good attacking talent that can work through a low block and reliably put the ball in the net? A lot rides on Kendry Paez's development — he was clearly not ready this time, not earning a minute of playing time so far.
 
I don’t want to over-generalize but smaller central/south American international sides tend to be compact, physical, skilled at tactical fouling, but somewhat weak in attacking penetration and finishing.

At least that’s been my experience when USA face CONCACAF/CONMEBOL nations other than the elites. So Ecuador’s performance was not that unusual, but as you say even in that context their attack was lacking.
 
Japan look like dark horses. Have played well in both games, granted we'll see how they fare against stiffer competition

But look a good team so far.
 
Yeah, their team spirit and formational discipline is fearsome.

I do think Netherlands could have beat them if the coach hadn’t decided to park the bus so early.
 
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