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Caicedo saw red | Getty Images
Arsenal and Chelsea payers featured in a ‘historic’ win on Tuesday night.
An Arsenal player and a Chelsea star featured in a big international upset on Tuesday night, with Ecuador defeating world champions Argentina. It has been a stellar qualifying for both teams, who wound up finishing as the top two in the CONMEBOL qualifying table, with Argentina nine points ahead but with Ecuador in second and ahead of the likes of Colombia, Uruguay and even Brazil.
Ecuador capped their fine campaign and celebrated the start of their journey to the World Cup with a surprise win over Argentina thanks to a penalty from experienced forward Enner Valencia deep into first-half stoppage time.
Chelsea star Moises Caicedo made the headlines for the wrong reasons, picking up a yellow card after just 16 minutes, and he got a second five minutes after half-time to get sent off, making things difficult for his teammates.
Primicias were not impressed, rating his performance as a 4/10, reasoning: “That red card ruined the game that played out in a brilliant way. Well, these things happen, even to world champions.”
Thankfully for Caicedo, his teammates bailed him out with a superb performance to see out the win, and Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie was part of that, playing at left-back in this one, earning a 9/10 performance.
The report adds: “A masterclass in playing left-back. Thanks to his work, Nilson Angulo played much better than Asunción. Aggressive and with peripheral vision, he was able to create spaces to get out of his position. Pervis (Estupinan) should have taken note because he could end up being his replacement.”
Speaking after the game, Ecuador boss Sebastián Beccacece said: “The group showed what they've been doing, their commitment to the people, and the joy they were able to bring to the town for them to enjoy. You always dream and have desire because the kids demonstrate a lot. We have to keep working, with humility and respect. The kids have tremendous commitment . I want to thank the fans who filled the stadium,"
Ecuador assistant Nicolás Chiesa, who was on the sideline for the game, with Beccacece suspended, added after helping defeat his own nation: “Obviously, when we went down to 10 against 10 the game became more even and Argentina took control, but we were very well organized tactically and organized to try to control them . There we were more attentive in the defensive phase, but when we had the ball we tried to play and get close, when we couldn't we looked for solutions with Kevin Rodriguez when he came on."
“We controlled the game. The boys played a great game and managed every moment . We would like to congratulate the players for achieving their historic qualification with the highest number of points, especially for the way this family is built, with everyone helping out and there being healthy competition.
“Today we got another clean sheet, it's very important because the World Cup is 270 minutes long and a clean sheet is very important. We've been up to the task. Congratulations to the entire group of players.
"We've tried to play in every game, in some the opponents let us, and in others less so. Playing well or playing poorly is determined by scoring one more or one less goal. Today was an important test because we were playing on equal terms with one of the best teams in the world.”
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