Enner Valencia silences all his critics

A dazzling header from the tireless Enner Valencia He did this Tuesday that Ecuador was reunited with victory in the South American qualifiers 2026 World Cupbeating Peru 1-0, who are still without a win and are deepening their crisis at the bottom of the table. Valencia, the captain and all-time top scorer of the Ecuadorian national team, redeemed himself from the penalty he missed against Argentina in the Copa América and once again dressed as a hero to the applause of a public that until a few days ago was criticising his performance.

At the end of the eighth round of the qualifiers, the Ecuadorian team has 11 points with this victory, after having started with -3 due to the sanction imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for the Byron Castillo case.

For the Peruvian team, which had won 1-2 in its last two visits to Quito in qualifying, it could not even score this time and remains in last place with 3 points. The Blanquirroja showed once again that it is one step below its rivals as a visitor, as shown by the statistics of the match, where it did not have a single shot on goal and had only 26% of the ball possession.

Peru coach Jorge Fossati of Uruguay sought to give continuity to the team that showed great intensity against Colombia (1-1) in Lima, but at 2,850 meters above sea level in Quito the team retreated and gave all the prominence to the local team, the great dominator of the game.

Thus, the Tri, which recorded its first victory since the arrival of Argentine Sebastián Beccacece as coach, tried hard to score a goal but had a hard time breaking through the Peruvian defense and its best opportunities in the first half came with long-distance shots and set pieces.

From outside the area, debutant John Mercado tried his luck in the 6th minute with a shot that went over the crossbar, while immediately afterwards it was Kendry Páez who aimed between the three posts, but the ball was cleared by Peruvian goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.

The Blanquirroja goalkeeper appeared again to easily block a header from Félix Torres after a corner and, later, a header from Ángelo Preciado. Peru had a hard time getting close to the opposition area, with forwards Gianluca Lapadula and Álex Valera practically unable to beat the tough Hincapié, Pacho and Torres.

The scoring finally opened in Ecuador’s favour thanks to the infallible Valencia. The Brazilian Internacional striker headed in a cross from the right flank by Alan Franco, but Gallese was unable to save the home team’s goal this time.

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Ecuador’s goal did not change the script of the match, as Peru was unable to trouble Ecuador, which instead sought a second chance with even more confidence, but it did not come, and without Valencia on the field, the Tri once again had serious problems in scoring.

TECHNICAL SHEET

1 – Ecuador: Hernán Galindez; Félix Torres, Piero incapié, William Pacho; Ángelo Preciado, Alan Franco, Moisés Caicedo, Pervis Estupiñán (m.87, Jhoanner Chávez); John Mercado (m.59, John Yeboah), Enner Valencia (m.68, Kevin Rodríguez) and Kendry Páez (m.58, Pedro Vite). Coach: Sebastián Beccacece.
0 – Peru: Coach: Jorge Fossati.
Goal: 1-0, Enner Valencia (m. 54)
Referee: Colombian Andrés Rojas cautioned Páez (m.57) for Ecuador and Cartagena (m.28), Advíncula (m.37), Santamaría (m.45+1) and López (m.61) for Peru. He sent off a member of Peru’s coaching staff (90+2).
Incidents: match of the eighth round of the South American qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup, played at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium in Quito, in front of some 35,000 spectators.