The Argentine National Team faces Ecuador for the quarterfinals of the America Cup this Thursday at 10:00 p.m. (Argentine time) at the NRG Stadium in Houston. Con Lionel Messi in doubt and the return of Lionel Scaloni to the substitute bench after the sanction, the world champion seeks to take another step in the competition that is held in USA.
Argentina won the Group A with a perfect score and without conceding goals after their respective matches against Canada (2-0), Chile (1-0) y Peru (2-0). Now they will have to face the second of B, which turned out to be Ecuador, who recovered from a 1-2 defeat against Venezuela In the debut, he beat 3-1 against Jamaica and ended up doing business with the 0-0 draw against Mexico.
The referee of the match will be the Uruguayan Andres Matonte, who already led the National Team in the match against Chile. In the event of a tie, the match will be extended with two extra periods of 15 minutes and if equality is maintained, it will be resolved by penalties.
The winner will face whoever emerges victorious from the clash between Venezuela y Canada. On the other side of the picture, Uruguay y Brazil define one of the two semi-finalists, who will then play against the one who wins among Colombia y Panama. The grand final is scheduled for Sunday, July 14 at 10:00 p.m. in Miami.
A large number of Argentine fans are expected at the NRG Stadium in Houston, as well as soccer fans eager to see Lionel Messi on the field. The captain of the Albiceleste National Team trained normally but it is not clear if the coach will risk him against Ecuador or prefer to preserve him for a hypothetical semifinal that of course is not guaranteed.
Argentina vs Ecuador: what time and where to watch it live
The match between Argentina y Ecuador for the quarterfinals of the America Cup It will be played this Thursday from 10:00 p.m. (Argentine time). The meeting will be broadcast for the TV by Public TV, Telefe, TyC Sports and DSportsand in online format with the applications of Flow, DGo, TyC Sports Play, Telecentro Play, Mi Telefe and Cont.ar. In addition, there will be a special minute by minute through the Clarin.com website.
Formation of Argentina against Ecuador
With some doubts, the probable 11 that Scaloni could present for the quarterfinal match against the Ecuador team would be: Emiliano Martínez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martínez, Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández and Giovani Lo Celso; Ángel Di María or Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martínez or Julián Álvarez and Nicolás González.
Formation of Ecuador to face Argentina
Led by Spanish coach Félix Sánchez Bas, Ecuador could have the following 11 to play against Argentina: Alexander Domínguez; Ángelo Preciado, Félix Torres, Wlliam Tenorio, Piero Hincapié; Alan Franco, Kendry Páez, Moisés Caicedo, Jeremy Sarmiento; Enner Valencia, Kevin Rodríguez or Alan Minda.
Argentina vs Ecuador: the history
The history between Argentina and Ecuador has a favorable balance for the Albiceleste, and a recent friendly clash that also remained for those led by Lionel Scaloni. In total there are 40 matches played, with 24 wins for Argentina, 11 draws and 5 Ecuadorian victories, some of them remembered for taking place at the height of Quito.
Recently, on June 9, Argentina played a friendly against Ecuador in Chicago. With Messi on the bench, Di María was the author of the 1-0 after a great play by Cuti Romero, which enabled Fideo to score the only goal of the match. In official duels, the last time was also defined by the minimum: 1-0 with a free kick goal by Lionel Messi at the end, at the Monumental, for the first date of the Qualifiers towards the 2026 World Cup.
