Enner Valencia has silenced all his critics

A brilliant headbutt from fireproof Enner Valencia did this Tuesday Ecuador met with success again in the South American qualifiers 2026 World Cupby beating Peru 1-0, which is still winless and increases its crisis as below. Valencia, the captain and all-time top scorer of the Ecuadorian team, redeemed himself from the missed penalty 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 criticized the his performance.

At the end of the eighth day of the qualifiers, the Ecuadorian team registered 11 points in this victory, after starting with -3 due to the sanction imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) for the case of Byron Castillo.

For the Peruvian team, which won 1-2 in its last two visits to Quito in qualifying, it could not even score a point this time and was left in last position with 3 points. La Blanquirroja once again showed that they are a step below their rivals as a guest, as shown by the match statistics, where they did not make any shots on goal and had almost 26% of the ball possession .

The Peruvian coach, the Uruguayan Jorge Fossati, sought to give continuity to the team that showed great intensity against Colombia (1-1) in Lima, but at 2,850 meters of altitude in Quito the team retreated and gave the all local opponents. team , the great dominator of the game.

So, La Tri, which added its first success after the arrival of Argentine Sebastián Beccacece as coach, looked hard for the goal but struggled to open the Peruvian defense and its best chances in the first half come to long-distance shots and to playing from a stopped ball.

From outside the area, debutant John Mercado tried his luck in the 6th minute with a shot that went over the crossbar, while soon after Kendry Páez took aim between the three sticks, but the ball was cleared by Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.

The Blanquirroja goalkeeper appeared again to easily block a header from Félix Torres that came from a corner and, later, a header from Ángelo Preciado. It was very difficult for Peru to get close to the opponent’s area, with forwards Gianluca Lapadula and Álex Valera barely winning the game against the powerful Hincapié, Pacho and Torres.

The can was finally opened in Ecuador’s favor thanks to an impeccable Valencia. The Brazilian Internacional striker relentlessly headed home Alan Franco’s cross from the right wing, this time with Gallese unable to save the goal for the home team.

Ecuador’s goal did not change the script of the match, as Peru was unable to worry Ecuador, who instead looked with more confidence at a second that did not come, and without Valencia on the field again had La Tri is a serious problem to beat. the opposite goal.

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). Instructor: Sebastián Beccacece.
0 – Peru: Peter Gallese; Luis Advíncula (m.46, Oliver Sonne); Miguel Araujo, Alexander Callens, Anderson Santamaría (d.46, Carlos Zambrano), Marcos López; Wilder Cartagena (m.46, Jean Archimbaud), Renato Tapia, Sergio Peña (m.67, Piero Quispe); Álex Valera (m.80, Santiago Ormeño) and Gianluca Lapadula. Instructor: Jorge Fossati.
Purpose: 1-0, Enner Valencia (m. 54)
Referee: Colombian Andrés Rojas advised Páez on behalf of Ecuador (m.57) and on behalf of Peru Cartagena (m.28), Advíncula (m.37), Santamaría (m.45+1) and López (m. 61). He fired a member of Peru’s coaching staff (90+2).
Incidents: against the eighth round of the South American qualifying qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, played at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium in Quito, before approximately 35,000 spectators.