Hear
“As an Ecuadorian I would feel pride and emotion if my country lifted the trophy, but Félix Sánchez Bas’s call is nothing to cheer about.” This is how journalist Ricardo Vasconcellos Rosado, columnist of the influential newspaper, expressed The universe, his expectations about the Ecuador team in the imminent Copa América. The tricolor team will be the rival of Argentina this Sunday, in the first rehearsal of Lionel Scaloni’s team prior to the continental competition in which it defends the title. The match, which will begin at 8 p.m. in our country and will be played at Soldier Field in Chicago, will allow the Argentine coach to draw conclusions and begin to shape the final list of 26 players, of the 29 who are now working to earn a place.
What outlook does Argentina’s rival present? After the successful cycle led by Gustavo Alfaro, which qualified the Tri to the World Cup in Qatar and the subsequent interruption – not in the best terms – of the coach born in Rafaela, the Spanish Félix Sánchez Bas appeared. The 48-year-old Catalan had recent international experience as a guide for the Qatar team. There he had replaced the Uruguayan Jorge Fossati, who in a recent interview left a suggestive definition of his successor in the Middle East as a whole: “I was surprised, just like you, that the Ecuadorian Federation paid attention to him, I don’t question his ability in any way, but He is a man who was totally unaware of football on our continent”.
And if Alfaro had captivated and excited the Ecuadorian soccer public, Sánchez Bas is still looked askance at. This is confirmed by journalist Mario Canessa Oneto: “Credibility and trust are at stake, which for now the Ecuadorian fan does not have with the National Team’s coaching staff.” And he adds: “We Ecuadorians consider that Sánchez Bas has in his hands a generation of young footballers with international careers. What worries him is that both at the time of calling, as well as at the time of lining up and applying the game strategy, the Spaniard’s proposals have not been correct. The results have served to hide the malfunction.”
It’s true, The numbers support the Spanish coach, who since he took over at the beginning of 2023, has coached 12 games, in which he achieved 7 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses. One of those setbacks was precisely against Argentina, which beat them 1-0 at the Monumental, on the first date of the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, with a goal from Lionel Messi.
Another of the defeats was in their last match, on the FIFA date in March, against Italy, by 2 to 0, at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. The most worrying thing about that trip was not on the field, but in a New York nightclub, where several Ecuadorian soccer players were surprised, including the great tricolor hope, Kendry Páez, only 16 years old (he turned 17 a month ago and has already been sold to Chelsea), on the free night before the game. What were the players, including a minor, doing in a strip club in Manhattan, they wondered in confusion in Ecuador, where the videos and photos of the soccer players quickly went viral.
The older players involved in that mess, Gonzalo Plata and Robert Arboleda, seem to have paid for their recklessness: they were not called up by Sánchez Bas in the list of 26 that was announced for the Copa América. “These are issues of the coaching staff, we have something clear and no regulations were violated. The Ecuadorian Federation (FEF) cannot apply sanctions if there are no violations of the regulations. We have a profile of what we want from a team,” explained Francisco Egas, president of the FEF, in conversation with radio La Red de Quito. Páez was summoned.
New additions to that roster were defenders Layan Loor (Universidad Católica) and Andrés Micolta (Pachuca, Mexico), and attacker Janner Corozo, from Barcelona de Guayaquil. The rest of the squad is the one that had been working together with Sánchez Bas.
It has its main figures European: Moisés Caicedothe all-round midfielder from Brighton, where he also plays Pervis Estupiñándynamic defender and captain of the national team; Piero Hincapiéwith a past at Talleres de Córdoba and a successful present at Bayer Leverkusen, the Bundesliga champion; Angelo Preciadofrom Sparta Prague, and the young striker Alan Mindafrom Bruges (Belgium), and called to be the disciple of the experienced Enner Valencia, who is also among those summoned.
It gives the feeling that Gustavo Alfaro left the rod at half height. The euphoria for qualifying for the World Cup was bogged down in disappointment due to a group stage that left them early out of Qatar and with little taste. Sánchez Bas has in his hands a great generation of footballers, perhaps the best in the history of Ecuador. His mission, in addition to competing and being a protagonist in whatever he plays, has an added bonus: to make fans fall in love with him that still couldn’t digest it.
