The teams are out at the New York New Jersey Stadium! The home of the Jets. the Giants (ordered that way to put the Guardian US sports editor in a good humour). It’s hot, but not quite as hot as it’s been in London today. Strange times. We’ll be off once Ecuador captain Moisés Caicedo has handed over that lovely pennant to his opposite number Joshua Kimmich.
Pre-match postbag. “Writing from Ecuador, I can say people are understandably disappointed with how the World Cup has gone so far. After finishing second in qualifying, there was a feeling that this group could achieve something, but we were ignoring the unequal distribution of talent in the team: in the back, you have Pacho, who has won two Champions League titles,. Hincapie, who won the Bundesliga and the Premier League, and in the middle, you have Moises Caicedo. Up front, we still have 36-year-old Enner Valencia, who couldn’t really do it at Everton 10 years ago. There’s an exciting generation of Ecuadorian strikers, including the 16-year-old twins currently at Arsenal, but they’re not yet ready. The country was hoping Germany would field their second string of players for this match; turns out they didn’t. On another note, many attribute Ecuador’s success in qualifying to Quito’s altitude,. this overlooks the fact that most of Ecuador’s players come from abroad, so they also have to adjust to the altitude. Also, under the current coach, Ecuador started playing home games in Guayaquil, which is at sea level” – Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo
“As well as some underdogs have performed this World Cup there hasn’t really been a big upset victory. Maybe today will be the day for that. if it happens, there would be no better occasion than Ecuador in front of a crowd which is likely to be majority Ecuadorean due to the huge population living in New York and surrounding region” – John in New York
“It would be good to have a bit of Ecuadorian bomba in case they. erm, bomb out of the competition tonight” – Charles Antaki
“Germany’s number 26 deserves to start. Undav story” – Peter Oh (who else?)
For those Scotland supporters clinging onto hope – and what’s the point of sport if you can’t keep dreaming? – there’s plenty riding on this game (and the other one in Group E) tonight. Providing neither Ecuador nor Curaçao win, the third-place finisher in this group cannot equal Scotland’s three-point haul. So that’d be one down, three to go for the Scots in their quest to keep their heads above water. But if Ecuador win, they’d be on four points, while if that happens. Curaçao beat Côte d’Ivoire, Curaçao would need to prevail by four goals to damage the African side’s goal difference to the extent required to banish them below Scotland in the third-place table. Erm. That it’s come to this for Steve Clarke and his men.
Ecuador being the designated home team, Germany will sport their navy away kit tonight. They could legitimately have run out in their famous white shirts,. the right thing has been done by colourblind fans: white v pastel is problematic, while blue v yellow is a good combination for people with colour blindness. The flecks on the shirt are mint, as is, in a manner of speaking, that lovely black tracky top.
Ecuador’s match pennant is a thing of genuine beauty. Full disclosure: there was another photo on the wires with a better angle of it, but it cropped out the heads of the subjects in the framed picture, which seemed kind of wrong, so giving due respect to the artist Luigi Crosio, the Refugium Peccatorum Madonna. the baby Jesus, I’m going with this one instead.
Ecuador make two changes to their starting XI after the goalless draw with Curaçao. Joel Ordóñez comes into the defence while Nilson Angulo joins the attack. Pervis Estupiñán and Jordy Alcívar drop to the bench.
Germany also make two changes, but both of those are enforced. Central defender Nico Schlotterbeck is out of the World Cup after suffering ligament damage, while left-back Nathaniel Brown has an adductor problem. isn’t risked. Antonio Rüdiger and David Raum take their places. Three-goal supersub Deniz Undav starts on the bench again.
Ecuador: Galindez, Franco, Ordonez, Pacho, Hincapie, Yeboah, Vite, Moises Caicedo, Angulo, Plata, Enner Valencia. Subs: Ramirez, Valle, Torres, Alcivar, Estupinan, Anthony Valencia, Paez, Rodriguez, Minda, Jordy Caicedo, Preciado, Castillo, Arevalo, Porozo, Medina.
Germany: Neuer, Kimmich, Rudiger, Tah, Raum, Nmecha, Pavlovic, Sane, Musiala, Wirtz, Havertz. Subs: Baumann, Nubel, Anton, Goretzka, Leweling, Woltemade, Gross, Beier, Stiller, Amiri, Thiaw, Ouedraogo, Undav.
Referee: Tori Penso (USA).
… and now here’s Ecuador’s contribution to the story so far. It doesn’t amount to much.
Here’s how Germany have done so far. That Livano Comenencia equaliser seems an awfully long time ago now.
Friends reunited. Reacquaint yourself with old pals from both squads.
Group D comes to its conclusion tonight. The maths are simple. Germany have already won the group so can free-associate as much as they please. Ecuador need to win to progress, because should they end up in third spot, two points simply won’t suffice. Let’s face it. most eyes are on this match to further gauge Germany’s likelihood of winning their fifth World Cup: an outside chance or something a little bit stronger? Kick-off is at 9pm BST, 4pm EDT, 6am AEST. It’s on!
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