Preview: Ecuador vs. Uruguay - prediction, team news, lineups

After a disappointing first match, the hosts will be looking to register their first points in the qualifiers here, while the visitors will be in search of back-to-back wins early on in qualifying.

Match preview

Ecuador come into this match following a 1-0 loss to Argentina on Friday night, where Lionel Messi stepped up once again to pull the Argentines through with a solitary goal late on in the second half.

While the hosts did lose the match, a major positive they would have taken would have been their defensive performance, as they allowed just four attempts on target while managing three themselves.

Still, they would likely have expected a difficult encounter against the world champions and will see this as a much better opportunity to secure their first points of the competition.

That loss against Argentina brought an end to a three-match winning streak for the Tricolor, which included a 2-1 victory over Australia, followed by a 1-0 win against Bolivia and, most recently, a 3-1 triumph against Costa Rica back in June.

Felix Sanchez's side finished fourth in this qualifier between 2020 and 2022 and beat this opponent 4-2 at this venue in that time; however, that was the only win they secured against Uruguay in their last four meetings.

Meanwhile, Uruguay will come into this match with great confidence, having got their qualification campaign off to the perfect start with a 3-1 win over Chile in their opening match last Saturday.

Nicolas de la Cruz opened the scoring and doubled his tally in the second half, while Federico Valverde also got on the scoresheet to set the Charruas in second place, behind Brazil early in the competition.

With that win, Marcelo Bielsa's side are now on a four-match winning streak and unbeaten in their last six in all competitions, while they have also scored two or more goals in five of those matches.

Despite being the outsiders in this fixture, the visitors have a solid record against this opponent in recent times, with three wins in their last four encounters, and they also finished above them in the last edition of qualifying by two points after 18 matches.

Ecuador World Cup Qualifying - South America form:

L

Ecuador form (all competitions):

L

L

W

W

W

L

Uruguay World Cup Qualifying - South America form:

W

Uruguay form (all competitions):

W

D

W

W

W

W

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Team News

While Ecuador were starved of many clear-cut opportunities in the last match, Kevin Rodriguez looked pretty sharp after coming off the bench and will hope to partner Enner Valencia in attack here.

Sanchez opted for a five-at-the-back formation in the last match, though the Ecuador boss may consider switching to a more conventional 4-4-2 setup in this one, which could allow Pervis Estupinan to play a more advanced role down the left flank.

Considering the result in the last match, Bielsa may be tempted to maintain the same starting 11 in this match, which included the very impressive trio of Valverde and de la Cruz on either side of Manuel Ugarte in the Uruguay engine room.

Facundo Pellistri was the first player withdrawn in the last match for Brian Rodriguez, and the Club America attacking midfielder will be hoping for a starting 11 berth this time behind Darwin Nunez and Maximiliano Araujo.

Ecuador possible starting lineup:

Galindez; Torres, Arboleda, Pacho, Hurtado; Cifuentes, Gruezo, Caicedo, Estupinan; Rodriguez, Valencia

Uruguay possible starting lineup:

Rochet; Nandez; Caceres, Vina, Piquerez; Valverde, Ugarte, de la Cruz; Pellistri, Nunez, Araujo

We say: Ecuador 2-1 Uruguay

While the visitors have been the dominant team in this encounter over the last few years, Ecuador are a very good side on their home patch and have won each of their last three against this opponent when playing at home.

We expect this to be a free-flowing and entertaining match but fancy the hosts to win it by a one-goal margin.

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