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Netherlands were held to a 1-1 draw against Ecuador in what was a brilliant comeback by the South American nation during their second Group A of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Friday, November 25. Young forward Cody Gakpo scored what was the fastest goal at the ongoing World Cup in the sixth minutes of the game but the Ecuadorians were unfazed as they worked their way back into the match, with captain Enner Valencia finally finding the net for his team in the 49th minute.
After their draw, we take a look at five takeaways from the just gone by:
Enner Valencia creates history
The Ecuador skipper created World Cup history with his equaliser against the Netherlands in what was his sixth consecutive goal for Ecuador at the mega event. This is the first time that a player has scored six consecutive goals for his country, equalling a long-standing record previously held by Portuguese legend Eusebio in 1966, Paolo Rossi with Italy in 1982 and Oleg Salenko with Russia in 1994.
But the Fenerbache ace later left the pitch on a stretcher after suffering an injury, throwing doubts about his involvement in their final group game against Senegal next Tuesday.
Ecuadorian pace downs Dutchmen
With Pervis Estupinan on one wing and Gonzalo Plata on the other, the Dutch fullbacks had their hands full. This was their eventual downfall as it was Estupinan who found the net once abliet disallowed, an effected the eventual equaliser.
In injury time of the first half, Ecuador looked to have equalised after a headed away corner was blasted back to the goal by Plata and turned into the goal by Estupinan but was disallowed for an offside. But four minutes into the second half, Estupinan found space on the left flank. He shot was parried away by the Dutch goalkeeper by Valencia did well to stay onside and poke the rebound into the goal.
Hosts eliminated
If hosts Qatar's loss to Senegal pushed the team closer to elimination from the competition, then the draw between Ecuador and Netherlands confirmed their oust from the tournament. Given that both these teams now have four points each, and Senegal is on three points after their 3-1 win over Qatar, it means that the hosts and first-timers are out of the World Cup.
Group A opens up
After their 1-1 draw, both the Netherlands and Ecuador are equal on points, goal difference and goals scored. This is because the two of them won their opening match of the World Cup by a 2-0 scoreline — Ecuador against Qatar and then the Netherlands against Senegal. In case this persists in the final round of group-stage matches as well, then the fair play rule comes into question.
According to this rule, for every yellow card received, a team is deducted one point; and three for a double yellow card. A direct red card means four points deducted, and a yellow card followed by a direct red card means five points deducted. Whoever has the better record moves on to the next round. As of now, the Dutchmen are ahead of Ecuador in this aspect.
