Ecuador reached the Copa America quarterfinals by incomes a gritty and dramatic 0-0 draw towards Mexico within the groups’ Group B finale on Sunday night time in Glendale, Ariz.
Ecuador (1-1-1, 4 factors) absorbed strain all through the night to safe the second spot within the group above Mexico (1-1-1, 4 factors) primarily based on its superior objective differential. Ecuador completed with a objective differential of plus-one, whereas Mexico’s was even.
After eliminating Mexico, Ecuador will advance to face defending champion Argentina on Thursday in Houston in an try to achieve its first semifinal because it hosted the occasion in 1993.
“We all know it’s an unmatched opponent and we all know how powerful it is going to be,” Ecuador supervisor Felix Sanchez mentioned by an interpreter. “However our gamers are comfortable that they moved to the following spherical, and we’ll see how that unfolds.”
Mexico thought it had earned a penalty deep into second-half stoppage time when referee Mario Escobar pointed to the spot after Felix Torres’ problem on Guillermo Martinez.
However Escobar reversed his determination after a VAR assessment, the place he noticed replays exhibiting that Torres made contact with the ball earlier than Martinez tumbled to the bottom.
Mexico, in its first Copa America since 2016, scored solely as soon as in its three group matches, an output that can enhance the strain on supervisor Jaime Lozano.
Already this system’s third supervisor prior to now 18 months, Lozano additionally drew criticism when Mexico misplaced the 2024 CONCACAF Nations League remaining, 2-0, to the USA and dropped two friendlies heading into this event, together with a 4-0 demolition by Uruguay.
“Every time an goal will not be met, there’s sure discomfort and doubts, that is solely pure, irrespective of who’s right here,” Lozano mentioned. “However the gamers stored believing till the very finish; that is not simple. It isn’t simple to play that robust union and the dedication that they confirmed … over the entire event. That call (about my future) is less than me.”
Mexico dominated the movement of play and had 19 photographs towards Ecuador’s 9, however it directed solely three heading in the right direction and none earlier than halftime.
Essentially the most threatening sequences typically occurred with Julian Quinones attacking down the left. Seconds after Luis Romo lastly compelled Ecuador goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez into his first save within the sixty fifth minute, Quinones tried his personal luck from distance.
Dominguez made a diving cease however pushed the rebound solely so far as Mexico’s Santiago Gimenez, who directed a shot from a decent angle off the close to put up.
As Mexico continued to strain, Ecuador started to threaten extra from the counter. Enner Valencia’s dipping strike compelled Julio Gonzalez’s unsure save within the 68th minute, and he fired broad on the break within the eightieth when he might’ve performed a go to a teammate to his proper.
“We all know that we nonetheless have plenty of work forward of us to maintain evolving,” Sanchez mentioned of his crew’s defensive-minded effort. “However that is Copa America, and we additionally want to grasp the good progress we have made right now, as a result of we’re shifting to the following spherical.”
–Discipline Stage Media