Miserly Ecuador eye World Cup breakthrough on back of unbeaten run

June 5 : A glance at the team sheets for last week's Champions League final gave a big clue as to why Ecuador might end up being one of the toughest teams to score against at the World Cup.

Centre half Willian Pacho anchored the Paris Saint-Germain defence in their Budapest shootout triumph over Arsenal, for whom Piero Hincapie played all 120 minutes at left back. 

The longtime friends will be reunited for their country at the World Cup in a rearguard also featuring AC Milan full back Pervis Estupinan and Club Brugge centre half Joel Ordonez, the 22-year-old target of some of the biggest clubs in Europe.     

Add in front of that defence Chelsea's Moises Caicedo, who many consider to be the best defensive midfielder in the world, and it is perhaps not too hard to see why Ecuador managed 13 clean sheets in 18 South American World Cup qualifiers.

Conceding only five goals over that campaign, La Tri finished second behind world champions Argentina and three spots above Brazil - despite having three points docked for fielding an ineligible player in 2022 qualifying.  

"The goal was to qualify for the World Cup and be on par with Uruguay, Colombia, and Paraguay," coach Sebastian Beccacece said in an interview last month.   

"I think we've achieved that, and then we can take the next step and aspire to be a Brazil or Argentina someday. Today, we've set our sights on having the best World Cup in history."

Ecuador managed to reach the last 16 in 2006 where they lost 1-0 to a David Beckham goal for England, but otherwise failed to get out of their group in 2002, 2014 and 2022.

Without their two Champions League finalists, Ecuador beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 last weekend in New Jersey to extend their unbeaten run to 18 games going back to a