Ecuador declares national holiday after World Cup progress with victory over Germany

Ecuador President Daniel Noboa declared Friday a national holiday after the country’s soccer team reached the knockout phase of the World Cup with a shock 2-1 win over Germany.

“Thanks to the players and the coach who, despite the criticism, the insults, and the tough moments they went through, managed to recover and give this immense joy to the entire country. Tomorrow, a holiday!” Noboa said in a post on X.

Ecuador needed victory in their final Group E match on Thursday, following a defeat by Ivory Coast and a draw with Curacao.

Needing a win – or a miracle – to keep their hopes alive, the South Americans suffered the worst possible start when already-qualified Germany struck in the second minute, with Leroy Sane opening his account at a major international tournament in his 15th appearance at one.

Ecuador had failed to score in this tournament despite 39 previous attempts, but finally broke their duck on their 40th attempt as Nilson Angulo curled the ball beyond Manuel Neuer to spark wild celebrations among the sea of yellow in the stands.

Fans erupted

Gonzalo Plata then bundled home the winner with 13 minutes remaining to complete Ecuador’s stirring comeback as their fans erupted with joy at the sold-out New York/New Jersey stadium.

Germany had already been assured of qualification as group winners. Ivory Coast finished second after their 2-0 win over Curacao.

Ecuador qualified as one of the best eight third-placed teams, reaching the World Cup knockout stages for only the second time. They advanced to the round of 16 at the 2006 tournament in Germany.

Ecuador coach Sebastian Beccacece said all Ecuadoreans have a lot to celebrate.

Ecuador’s win at the New York/New Jersey stadium meant they finished as one of the eight best third-place teams across the 12 groups.

“Now it is time to celebrate. Time to share this feeling with your family, your friends, to drink your beer,” the Argentine coach told a press conference.

“It is the biggest victory for Ecuador in a World Cup. We worked for that, we came with the dream of making Ecuador’s best cup ever, and now we did,” he added.

Stoic Nagelsmann

Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann was stoic after his team’s loss, saying they were ready to look ahead to the knockout round.

Germany, who had already qualified, were beaten despite taking an early lead through a Leroy Sane goal. Germany will play one of the eight best third-place teams on Monday at Boston Stadium in the round of 32.

“We have to learn from (the loss) and improve, but we also have to look forward,” Nagelsmann told reporters. “On Monday it’s important that we start well.”

Nagelsmann said the team have to “be more calm and more active in certain situations” to avoid squandering leads.

“When you have such a good start and take the lead you have to be patient to find the spaces to build,” he said. “Today we lost a little bit of control after the lead.”

Sane, whose earlier inconsistency had provoked criticism from some observers, scored his first goal of the World Cup in the second minute.

“I was very happy,” Nagelsmann said. “He had a good position for the goal. He really did a good job preparing.”

Pochettino bushes off loss

USA conceded a stoppage-time goal to lose 3-2 to Turkey on Thursday, but coach Mauricio Pochettino said there was little reason for concern after his side still finished top of their World Cup group.

USA will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara in the round of 32 on Wednesday, and Pochettino was frustrated that much of the post-match discussion centred on the defeat rather than the co-hosts achieving their main goal of winning Group D.

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“At the moment no one congratulated us for finishing first in our group,” Pochettino told reporters. “I congratulate the players, the staff and the fans to finish first in a very difficult group.”

Turkey had already been eliminated before kick-off but the Argentine said the mood after the match was as if his team were the ones going home.

“Our objective was to finish first, and we finished first,” he said. “I’m so positive and I’m happy. Your questions are a little bit weird.”

Pochettino said the defeat had to be viewed in context, with the US team already through to the knockout stage and making wholesale changes to their starting line-up after victories over Paraguay and Australia.

“Whenever a team has already qualified and another team has already been knocked out, so many situations come into play,” he added.

Pochettino said the performance reinforced his belief in the depth of the squad, with several players making their World Cup debuts.

“We are a much better team now than before,” he said. “We qualified as number one and we went to the next round. I need to remind you that we won the group.” Reuters/DM