On Friday, in the friendlies in the USA, El Tri suffered an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Uruguay while Ecuador managed to edge past Nigeria 1-0.
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Mexico will take on Ecuador in an international friendly at Soldier Field on Sunday. Both sides have secured qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar. Mexico finished at the second spot behind Canada in the CONCACAF World Cup qualification table, while Ecuador managed to earn a top-four spot in the CONMEBOL WC qualification table, behind Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. On Friday, in the friendlies in the USA, El Tri suffered an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Uruguay while Ecuador managed to edge past Nigeria 1-0 at the Red Bull Arena. The previous meeting between the two teams took place last year and ended 3-2 in favour of Ecuador.
El Tri had an impressive North American qualification, winning eight of their 14 games to book their place in the Qatar tournament. However, against Uruguay Gerardo Martino’s men looked out of ideas and failed to create even a single good goal-scoring opportunity. Meanwhile the defence was in sixes and sevens and struggled to cope with La Celeste’s quality attack. Matias Vecino opened the scoring in the first-half courtesy of some poor set-piece defending by the Mexicans. And then, in the second half, Edinson Cavani netted a brace to seal the win. Now heading into the final friendly before the CONCACAF Nations League next week, Martino has some issues to solve and will be aiming to get back to winning ways.
Meanwhile Ecuador’s confidence would be slightly high going into the tie, The La Tri suffered just one loss in their last eight games and managed to secure thrilling draws against heavyweights Brazil and Argentina during the WC qualification. Prior to the win against Nigeria, Gustavo Alfaro’s side held the South American champions Argetina to a 1-1 draw courtesy of Enner Valencia’s injury-time equaliser. And then, against the Super Eagles, Pervis Estupinan’s early goal was enough to clinch the win. Ecuador will be desperate to build a winning run as they head into a tough group featuring Netherlands, Senegal and hosts Qatar.
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Forward Hirving Lozano remains Mexico’s only injury concern and has been ruled out of this fixture. Wolverhampton striker Raul Jimenez will once again lead the attack. The 31-year-old has 30 international goals to his name in 100 appearances. Erik Gutierrez and Edson Alvarez will form the central midfield partnership.
As for Ecuador, they have no real injury concerns. La Tri’s all-time top-scorer Enner Valencia will lead the attack alongside Leandro Campana. Moises Caicedo, Sebas Mendez and Jose Cifuentes should continue to operate in the middle of the park.
Mexico probable starting lineup: Talavera, Araujo, Montes, Angulo. Sanchez, Gutierrez, Alvarez, Arteaga, Corona, Jimenez, Vega
Ecuador probable starting lineup: Dominguez, Preciado, Hincapie, Torres, Estupiñan, Cifuentes, Caicedo, Mendez, Valencia, Campana, Mena
The international friendly match between Mexico and Ecuador will take place at Soldier Field and it will kick-off at 5:00 am IST on Monday, June 7.
Unfortunately, there will be no official live telecast or streaming of these games on Indian Television platforms. However Soccer fans in the USA can watch the match on Fubo TV and TUDN USA.
