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Ecuador beat Argentina 2-0
Ecuador, who have already beaten world champions Brazil in the World Cup qualifiers, produced another upset when they beat Argentina 2-0 on Saturday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:52 AM IST
Read Time: 2 min
Quito:
Ecuador, who have already beaten world champions Brazil in the World Cup qualifiers, produced another upset when they beat Argentina 2-0 on Saturday.
The 45,000 seater Olimpico Atahualpa Stadium in Quito became a sea of yellow as the home fans packed the terraces to cheer on their side against Argentina.
Argentina had a couple of chances, the best being this effort by Luciano Galletti in front of an open goal after Carlos Tevez had done the hard work in beating his marker.
After that the game was controlled by the hosts. Their best first-half chance fell to Antonio Valencia, who broke away on the right and was denied by the legs of goalkeeper Leonardo Franco.
Vital breakthrough
The breakthrough came in the second half in the 54th minute when half-time substitute Cristian Lara met Neicer Reasco's pass with a first touch shot that powered past Franco.
Argentina, looking disorientated, appeared to run out of gas in the second half and rarely threatened Edwin Villafuerte in the Ecuador goal.
The second goal came again from Lara to set up Delgado to head home in the 90th minute.
Scuffle penalty
Matters deteriorated for Argentina when, with minutes, midfielder Esteban Cambiasso was sent off for his involvement in a scuffle.
He will now miss Wednesday's crunch clash at home with Brazil.
Argentina, who still lead the 10-nation South American World Cup qualifying group with 28 points from 14 games, would have become the first team to qualify for Germany next year if they had won.
Ecuador, who beat Brazil 1-0 in Quito last November, are third with 23 points as they attempt to qualify for their second successive World Cup. (AP)
Topics mentioned in this article
Football
Ecuador
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