The forwards of Ecuador They were not having a good time playing with the national jersey. Jordy Caicedo and Enner Valencia had to wait a long time to dial again with the Tri, in the victory 3-1 over Boliviasomething that will serve as an impetus for what is to come in the America Cup.
Superman, captain of the Tri, had been in a drought for almost a year. On June 21, 2023 he scored his last goal with the national team, in a friendly against Costa Rica that ended 3-1.
Then, since the start of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, he was unable to score in the initial 4 dates and missed the last 2 games, against Venezuela and Chile, due to injury.
In the friendly against Argentina he played half an hour, in a match in which La Tri had zero offensive weight, while he returned to the starting lineup against Bolivia, where Félix Sánchez’s team had more options. That’s how Valencia’s goal came, making it 1-0.
While Caicedo went 2 years without scoring for La Tri against Bolivia and finally he did. The Atlas player scored against Cape Verde, on June 12, 2022, in a friendly prior to the World Cup and under the direction of Gustavo Alfaro.
He did not participate in the World Cup, nor at the beginning of Sánchez Bas’s cycle, but he began to be a regular in the Qualifiers and in the last friendlies. However, the goal eluded him in La Tri, as well as in his club, since so far in 2024 the one that scored against Bolivia was his first goal.
Other companions in attack, such as Kevin Rodríguez and John Yeboah are closer with the goal. Rodríguez scored his first goal with La Tri in the Qualifiers, on the third round against Bolivia. While Yeboah has 2 goals in 2 games: he scored in the recent friendlies against Guatemala and against the Bolivians.
