Ecuador – Chile

Chile don’t look like clear outsiders after coach’s resignation

On Wednesday, 22 November, the Ecuadorian national team will play against Chile. Both teams may be unhappy with the start of qualification. Ecuador are only sixth, while Chile are not even in the knockout rounds. Chile became the first Chilean team to be left without a head coach during the qualification process. Eduardo Berisso lasted five matches. The tough decision had more to do with the quality of play. The coach was unable to provide the team with a quality attack. The last match against Paraguay turned out to be very grey. Chileans created a minimum of chances in a duel with a direct competitor. In total, the national team scored only three goals in five meetings - a terrible result for a qualification contender. Chile has quite a quality squad by the standards of a mid-table side. However, the construction of the team around 37-year-old Alexis Sanchez raises questions. In the other lines, youth is still starting to break through in one of the oldest national teams. Under Berisso, the team played a standard 4-2-3-1 formation. A similar formation should remain after his dismissal. If we take the total transfer value of the squad, Chile's squad is half as cheap as Ecuador's. Felix Basa's side have started worse than expected. The last two matches call into question the Spaniard's coaching methods. Ecuador played two zero draws in a row. The third team of last qualification failed to crack Venezuela and Colombia. The confrontation with Venezuelans in general went almost without a goal. Ecuador had one shot on goal in the entire match. There is a noticeable lack of class in the attacking line. The main star in the person of Caicedo is responsible for the centre of the pitch. Further all players play for modest clubs in Europe and South America. It is noteworthy that Ecuador for two matches did not create chances even for one goal. The total XG is only 0.70. The coach has not yet decided on the main scheme. There were variants with three centre-backs, as well as the classic formation with four attacking performers. Bookmakers give Ecuador as clear favourites, but the odds at 7.00 on Chile are clearly too high. One counterattack by the visitors will be enough to put a difficult task in front of the Ecuadorians. The team is very weak in positional attack. Chile has difficulties in attack, but only six goals have been conceded in five matches. That's not an indicator of failure. Plus, traditionally the resignation of a coach gives a short-term but momentum. Chile now has a good chance to build on that momentum. A zero draw is also likely, given the momentum of the two national teams.