Ecuador is considered a "dark horse" at this year's Copa America, after playing excellently in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America.
Enner Valencia kicks the opponent
Enner Valencia's red card costs Ecuador dearly
The "La Tri" squad for Copa America includes striker Enner Valencia, who is playing for Internacional, midfielder Moises Caicedo, who is playing for Chelsea, defender Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen), attacking midfielder Jeremy Sarmiento of Ipswich Town and Willian Pacho of Eintracht Frankfurt...
However, in the opening match, the Ecuadorian team led by coach Felix Sanchez (former coach of the Qatar national team) encountered unexpected misfortune. Enner Valencia's high kick in the 22nd minute when he dropped the ball and hit defender Jose Martinez (Venezuela) in the face, causing him to receive a direct red card, after the referee reviewed VAR.
Before Enner Valencia was sent off, Ecuador had complete control of the field. Ecuador even opened the score 1-0 in the 40th minute through Jeremy Sarmiento despite playing with one less player.
However, in the second half, everything changed quickly. Playing with one less player for a long time, Ecuador gradually lost the initiative. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan players played with great effort and turned the tables spectacularly with an equalizer in the 64th minute, 1-1, scored by Jhonder Cadiz. In the 74th minute, Eduard Bello scored the decisive goal for Venezuela, 2-1.
Venezuela team made a spectacular comeback to get the first victory at Copa America 2024
With a perfect start, the Venezuelan team is full of hope to win a ticket to the quarterfinals if they win against Mexico in the second round at 8am on June 27. Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian team must win against Jamaica at 5am on the same day to have any hope. However, they will be without star Enner Valencia for at least 1 to 2 matches because of the unfortunate red card he received.
2 Premier League stars couldn't save Jamaica against Mexico
In the other match in Group B, also taking place on June 23, the Jamaican team lost to Mexico with a score of 0-1. The Jamaican team has two stars who play very well in the Premier League, striker Michail Antonio (West Ham) and midfielder Leon Bailey (Aston Villa), besides many players of English origin such as striker Demarai Gray, midfielder Bobby Decordova-Reid...
Gerardo Arteaga scored the only goal to help Mexico beat Jamaica
Highly rated, Jamaica thought they had opened the scoring in the 50th minute through Michail Antonio, but the referee and VAR ruled out the goal for offside. In the 69th minute, from a defensive situation, "The Reggae Boyz" had to pay the price when player Gerardo Arteaga took advantage of the opportunity to shoot from outside the penalty area to score the opening goal for Mexico to win 1-0.
The situation forced the Jamaican team to fight Ecuador in the second round of the group stage to find hope of reaching the quarterfinals. Copa America 2024 has just gone through the first round, but is becoming very attractive when unexpected results continuously occur.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/copa-america-2024-thanh-bai-boi-sao-ngoai-hang-anh-doi-mexico-thang-soc-jamaica-185240623100945346.htm
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