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Enner Valencia, his star, scored the third goal of the tournament and was swept towards the end, Alfaro told the striker he should be fine. The Argentine said: “I think his injury is fine. Sometimes you deserve to win but, for some reason, you don’t get the result. Europe and we faced such a smart team.
Van Gaal agreed with this analysis. ” Ecuador could have won,” he said.
On Thursday, Van Gaal said Gakpo could be a star of the tournament and that the PSV player needed just five minutes to prove why. Steven Bergwijn, his strike partner, missed Nathan Aké’s pass, but the ball arrived at the feet of Davy Klaassen Moisés. Caicedo’s loose dispersion, and after the 10 formed a great heel, Gakpo took over, skillfully curling a left-footed shot from 20 meters past Hernán. Galíndez.
That made two sets of two for Gakpo, and Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners in the engine room made Van Gaal’s men purr at the desired pace, which was a little above a ride.
A crush from Gonzalo Plata on the right signaled Ecuador’s aim to disrupt the match. In a frenzy of action, his cross reached Caicedo, whose shot he blocked before, seconds later, Brighton cut from the left and returned the ball, Virgilio. van Dijk having to clear. From the resumption, Pervis Estupiñán fed and, again, Van Dijk in stop mode, moving the shot away from the side.
Ecuador was laughing to their left and when Valencia cut inside and let Andries Noppert’s save fly low to their right, it must have been sharp.
Ecuador no longer had ownership of the ball, harassing De Jong, Koopmeiners and Bergwijn to nevertheless lose the ball. They almost tied when, with an accurate shot, Jackson Porozo, one of Alfaro’s 3 central defenders, went ahead and bounced the ball to Marauder Angelo Preciado, who did not know how to capitalize.
Just before the break, Estupiñán saw his shot canceled deflected by Porozo’s offside: Array despite Noppert, who had already thrown himself on the right, in the opposite direction to the one they had beaten him.
For the time being, Van Gaal gave Memphis Depay the forty-five minutes he had promised, with Bergwijn being substituted, but Depay had little impact.
Ecuador struck when Estupiñán skated via area and shot on purpose of Noppert; the goalkeeper returned his hand and Valencia was able to miss. The goal grew out of a catalogue of errors that included a poor clearance from Noppert, an even worse header from Daley Blind, with De Jong involved in a midfield mix-up and Ecuador taking credit for the captain’s sixth goal in five World Cup matches.
Holland were on the verge of chaos, any kind of attacking scheme was a remote memory, so when Depay appeared in the centre and claimed a free kick, he felt a bit of shock, nothing came out of the free kick.
Silver much more convincing when he unleashed a shot over the crossbar of Noppert and it seemed that only one team could win. to pass and move with trigonometric precision.
Until the whistle, Ecuador was a threat, dispersing their rivals by hitting the ball masterfully, but it was now that Valencia’s injury forced them to leave. At the knockout level, and if the captain has compatibility to participate, it will give him an extra boost.