Poland 0
Ecuador 2


21. TENORIO Carlos (24')


11. DELGADO Agustin (80')

• Venue: FIFA World Cup Stadium, Gelsenkirchen


• Referee: KAMIKAWA Toru


• Temperature: 21°C 70°F


• Conditions: Fair

Ecuador’s Columbian coach Luis Suarez stood staring into the night sky as his unfancied Ecuadorian side had caused the first upset of the 18th FIFA World Cup, with a shock 2-0 victory over Poland in Gelsenkirchen. Written off prior to their opening game by most critics, who said that the Ecuadorians were only able to win matches played at high altitude in Quito the Ecuadorian capital.

On this occasion it was the Poles who were left clutching thin as the Ecuadorian’s who absorbed a barrage of attacks in the opening twenty minutes stunned their more fancied opponents.

Carlos Tenorio headed Ecuador into the lead on twenty four minutes after Augustin Delgado neatly flicked on a cross from the right hand sided and Tenorio headed past a helpless Boruc in the Polish goal. Ecuador made certain of the victory with ten minutes of the game remaining when Edison Mendez played a well timed defense splitting pass to substitute Ivan Kaviedes who caught out the onrushing Boruc with a deft pass to Augustin Delgado.

Who with the goal at his mercy neatly side footed the ball into an empty net to double the Ecuadorians lead and net his 30th goal for his country.

Poland did have two late chances with which had they converted would have seen them snap a point with the clock ticking down. First Ireneusz Jelen saw his left-foot snapshot strike the bar, then another substitute, Pawel Brozek watched agonisingly as his curling effort from the right edge of the box crashed off the post to safety.

Ecuador now face Costa Rica in Hamburg on Thursday while Poland will be in action a day earlier when they face hosts Germany in Dortmund on the 14th June. Poland will need to pick the pieces and will need to put in a more spirited performance if they are to over haul the hosts and have any chance of making it into the next stage of the competition.

ERNST MIDDENDORP’S MATCH REVIEW

I really did not expect this result and it was a shock to me, I had expected the Poles to win this game comfortably taking into account that Ecuador usually don’t do well away from home. If one had to look at their qualifying record it would amaze you to find that on the road Ecuador only won 3 out of a possible 27 points, but they did well at home even beating Brazil and Argentina along the way.

Practically before a ball was kicked they were written off and for Poland playing in Germany is like being at home because of the fact that their country neighbors Germany and they have a numerical advantage over their opponents in terms of support.

Anyway having said all of that one still needs to do the business on the field and Poland had chances early on and late on, they could not make the early pressure count and did not take advantage of their dominance. Ecuador must be commended for scoring two well taken goals the first was quick thinking by Delgado to flick on the ball and the second was a well worked team effort.

They were able to catch Poland flat footed and finished off the game with a second goal which they rightly deserved, Poland now have a real up hill battle to stay in the World Cup. I really can not see them beating Germany in their next game based on their performance in the opening game, Ecuador I feel could be booking their place in the second round on Thursday when they meet Costa Rica.

Report and Review Compiled by Yusuf Muhammad and Ernst Middendorp for www.kaizerchiefs.com

Statistics provided by FIFA