England v Ecuador - International Football Friendly Preview

Whisper it quietly, but England’s preparations for the World Cup are going perhaps better than could have been expected. A decent crop of young players has emerged in the latter half of the Premier League season, and a good result and half decent performance was achieved in their previous warm-up match. However, as England continue preparations for the Brazil World Cup, this fixture against Ecuador should provide them with a much sterner test than the win over Peru.

This will be the penultimate ninety minutes that England play before their World Cup opener against Italy. Certainly Hodgson’s men could hardly have a tougher opening fixture than meeting a team that played them off the park in Euro 2012, although it could also be noted that the 0-0 draw that they secured on that occasion would be a more than acceptable result in their first group game of the World Cup.

But what of their final warm-up opponents? Ecuador are one of the teams that I have tipped to be a dark horse in the Brazil World Cup. This is a very experienced and organised team who came through the always testing CONMEBOL qualifying section, and with a sprinkling of Premier League experience, I fancy Ecuador to make the last sixteen in Brazil, something that England themselves would probably accept as a reasonable outcome from this summer’s tournament. I actually believe they have a good shot of making the quarter-finals the way the draw has turned out, but many England fans back home think they’ll have a tough time getting out of their group.

Nonetheless, in general terms there are signs of optimism brewing in England at the moment as there is a reasonable crop of young players who appear to be going into the World Cup with decent form and momentum on their side. But this can change very quickly if they were to pick up a sub-par result against Ecuador, and manager Roy Hodgson will not merely be looking at this friendly as an exercise in gaining match sharpness.

Player for player, there is no doubt that England has the stronger of the two squads. But this has counted for little in the past, for example when England were largely outplayed by the United States during the last World Cup. However, Roy Hodgson seems to have generated a better team spirit around the squad than in previous years, and perhaps England might exceed expectations rather than disappointing for once.

The main issue in this game will be getting as many players through the game with minutes in their legs as possible, without incurring any unwanted injuries at this late stage. This is always a balancing act in itself. But at the same time, England certainly won’t want to lose the game, and incur negative morale going into what will certainly be a difficult game against Italy.

Despite the unfamiliar setting for this match, I think England will cope with the conditions in Miami okay and come out on top here narrowly.

Selections: Safe Bet – England to win (10/11 with BetVictor), Value Bet – England to win by 1 goal (13/5 with BetVictor)

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04/06/2014     © Frixo 2026