Honduras and Ecuador look to be in over their heads in Group E at the World Cup as both lost their opening matches, but the latter put in a good shift and lost a 2-1 heart-breaker to the Swiss. Ecuador might have a little more crowd support due to being in South America. This should be a cagey and physical battle between a pair of familiar foes.
World Cup Odds: Ecuador -155, Honduras +445, Draw +300
Why Honduras Can Win
Any team can win at any time, even though Honduras didn’t look like it at all in a 3-0 loss to France in their first match. If anything, they can win this match because Ecuador is closer to their skill level, while the French were in another class before they stepped on the pitch and didn’t take long to prove it, leaving Honduras to try and play rough with them. All that did was land Wilson Palacios on the bench for this game after two yellow cards, and his second yellow gave France a penalty that killed this game off just before halftime. Honduras was fortunate to come away from that game with just a 3-0 loss; France should have scored more.
Captain Noel Valladares wasn’t really at fault for the own goal credited to him, and he could be able to steal this game for his country.
Why Ecuador Can Win
Ecuador showed some resolve in their 2-1 loss to Switzerland and were about 30 seconds away from a point before some shoddy defending allowed the Swiss to score the game-winner. It was a tough way to lose for Ecuador, who got a goal after 22 minutes from Enner Valencia, who has played very well for his country recently. He scored his first goal for his country against Honduras, ironically, back in a November friendly to earn Ecuador a draw and he has scored four times since then against Australia, Mexico, England and of course, Switzerland. At 25 years old, Enner looks to be a staple in this team for years to come.
He is of no relation to captain Antonio Valencia, who is trying to drive the team forward from midfield and he spurned a few chances against the Swiss. He’ll have to do better on Friday if Ecuador is going to get anything out of this game.
Outlook
Ecuador and Honduras have met 13 times, with eight of those ending in a draw. There was the match in November in which Enner Valencia knotted it up with one minute left in regular time, but Ecuador struggled with Carlo Costly, who scored twice and they’ll have to rectify that if they want their fourth win against Honduras, who will probably try to play a little more and not kick their opponent all over the pitch. These teams aren’t strangers as they’ve played once a year since 2011, so there won’t be many secrets. Still, this won’t be a pretty game to watch for anyone but fans of either side.
Pick: Ecuador
