Luis Enrique will have to live with it: his defensive rock Willian Pacho will fly to East Asia next week with the selection of Ecuador. South American teams have friendly matches scheduled for the upcoming two-week international window. The Tri will face South Korea on September 24 in Suwon, then Japan on October 1 as part of the Kirin Cup, as well as the winner of Panama-New Zealand on Monday October 5 in Tokyo.
The Ecuadorian internationals will discover their brand new coach. Marcelo Gallardo has just been appointed as head of the team, succeeding his Argentine compatriot Sebastian Beccacece. The former Monaco and PSG playmaker left River Plate this summer, where he returned in 2024 after his failed experience at Al-Ittihad, in Saudi Arabia. He would have negotiated a salary of just over 250,000 euros until the 2030 World Cup, while imposing 10 assistants.
Willian Pacho, the bad World Cup
Pacho and his teammates are having a mixed 2026 World Cup when many saw them going far. The double Champions League-winning defender, international since 2023 (38 caps), was accompanied by Joel Ordoñez and Piero Hincapié in defense, with Moisés Caicedo on recovery. Ecuador thus finished 2nd in the South American qualifiers for the World Cup, behind Argentina, conceding only five goals!
The Seleccion was beaten from the start by Ivory Coast (1-0) before coming up against the modest team of Curaçao (0-0) and a goalkeeper Eloy Room author of 15 saves. A stunning victory against Germany (2-1) allowed it to pass the first round, but Willian Pacho, 24, suffered from the failures of his team and Ecuador was eliminated in the round of 16 by Mexico (2-0) of Julian Quiñones, on July 1.
