Wounded Uruguay take on Ecuador in Montevideo four days after the South American World Cup qualifiers produced fabulous goals and interesting results.

Uruguay look to bounce back from their defeat to Colombia with victory over Ecuador on September 11.The Uruguayans remain in the safe zone even after last week’s dreadful defeat to Colombia. They are sandwiched in fourth position against Los Cafeteros and La Tri. In terms of statistics, there is no reason for the 2011 Copa America champions to panic. Coach Oscar Tabarez is hoping from a positive response from his men on Tuesday as he told FIFA.com:

“The only thing we can do to forget this defeat is overcome Ecuador [on Tuesday].”

The question is whether Uruguay can recover from Friday’s shocking loss, their only one in the South American World Cup qualifiers so far. They will be playing on home soil where they have managed 10 points from a possible 12 since the start of the campaign. It is in Montevideo that La Celeste Olimpica defeated Bolivia, Chile and Peru with no less than four goals in each game.

 

Meanwhile, Ecuador reaffirmed their status as serious contenders for a spot in Brazil 2014 with a narrow 1-0 victory over Bolivia four days ago. Downplaying the importance of “scoring a lot of goals at everyone’s expectation,” Ecuador coach Reinaldo Rueda branded the win as a “valuable triumph” while speaking to FIFA.com.

La Tri’s target is to build on this result and upset the table’s favourites. The fact is that the Ecuadorians are yet to clinch a single point away from home in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. Their away record commenced with a disappointing 2-1 loss against Paraguay. La Tri’s experience in Buenos Aires was worse as Argentina beat them 4-0.

Will Ecuador be third-time lucky?

Last five meetings

July 10, 2004: Uruguay 2-1 Ecuador (Copa America)
September 5, 2004: Uruguay 1-0 Ecuador (World Cup Qualifier)
October 8, 2005: Ecuador 0-0 Uruguay (World Cup Qualifier)
September 5, 2008: Uruguay 0-0 Ecuador (World Cup Qualifier)
October 10, 2009: Ecuador 1-2 Uruguay (World Cup Qualifier)

Relevant facts

• Ecuador could win their third World Cup qualifying match on the trot this Tuesday

• Uruguay have lost only once in the campaign.

• Ecuador have scored only two goals against Uruguay in the last 540 minutes of football.

• Ecuador have won more games (4) than Uruguay (3) in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.