IF France turn up with their A-game then Ecuador look like being in a straight shoot-out with Switzerland for the second qualifying spot.

 

Outright odds: 125/1

To win group: 10/3

To qualify: 4/5

 

Full squad: Maximo Banguera (Barcelona, Ecuador), Adrian Bone (El Nacional), Alexander Dominguez (Liga de Quito); Gabriel Achilier (Emelec), Walter Ayovi (Pachuca), Oscar Bagui (Emelec), Frickson Erazo (Flamengo), Jorge Guagua (Emelec), Juan Carlos Paredes (Barcelona, Ecuador); Segundo Castillo (Al Hilal), Carlos Gruezo (Stuttgart), Renato Ibarra (Vitesse Arnhem), Fidel Martinez (Tijuana), Edison Mendez (Santa Fe), Christian Noboa (Dinamo Moscow), Luis Saritama (Barcelona, Ecuador), Antonio Valencia (Manchester United); Jaime Ayovi (Tijuana), Felipe Caicedo (Al-Jazira), Jefferson Montero (Morelia), Joao Rojas (Cruz Azul), Enner Valencia (Pachuca), Michael Arroyo (Atlante).

Manager: Reinaldo Rueda

World Cup record: Last 16 (2006), Group stage (2002)

How they qualified (most recent first): Finished fourth in South American qualifying, winning seven times from 16 qualifiers, drawing four and losing the other five.

v Chile (away) 1-2 (HT 0-2) Caicedo 66

v Uruguay (home) 1-0 (HT 1-0) Montero 30

v Bolivia (away) 1-1 (HT 1-1) Caicedo 57p

v Colombia (away) 0-1 (HT 0-1)

v Argentina (home) 1-1 (HT 1-1) Castillo 17

v Peru (away) 0-1 (HT 0-1)

v Paraguay (home) 4-1 (HT 1-1) Caicedo 37, Benitez 54, Montero 49, 74

v Venezuela (away) 1-1 (HT 1-1) Castillo 23

v Chile (home) 3-1 (HT 1-1) Caicedo 33, 56, Castillo 90+2

v Uruguay (away) 1-1 (HT 1-0) Caicedo 7p

v Bolivia (home) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Caicedo 73p

v Colombia (home) 1-0 (HT 0-0) Benitez 53

v Argentina (away) 0-4 (HT 0-3)

v Peru (home) 2-0 (HT 0-0) Mendez 69, Benitez 88

v Paraguay (away) 1-2 (HT 0-0) Rojas 90+2

v Venezuela (home) 2-0 (HT 2-0) Ayovi 15, Benitez 28

Goalscorers: Felipe Caicedo led the way with eight goals, three of them from the penalty spot.

Half-time/full-time: Five of Ecuador's seven wins came when they were drawing at half-time. The other two they had already established a half-time lead.

Clean sheets: Ecuador kept five clean sheets from 16 qualifiers.

Win to nil: Five of Ecuador's seven wins were to nil.

Other competitive internationals: None - the last Copa America was back in 2011.

Build-up (most recent first): A stunning 4-3 win over Australia, in which they came from 3-0 down, will be long remembered by Ecuadorians. Aside from that a draw in the Netherlands was a decent result, but they were well beaten recently by Mexico.

v England (neutral) 2-2 (HT 1-1)

v Mexico (neutral) 1-3 (HT 0-1) E Valencia 82

v Netherlands (away) 1-1 (HT 1-1) Montero 9

v Australia (neutral) 4-3 (HT 0-3) F Martinez 57, Castillo 61p, E Valencia 77, Mendez 90+3

v Honduras (neutral) 2-2 (HT 1-0) Ayovi 16 Valencia 89

v Argentina (neutral) 0-0 (HT 0-0)

 

Team verdict: If France turn up with their A-game then Ecuador look like being in a straight shoot-out with Switzerland for the second qualifying spot.

It may pay not to read too much into their performances against Holland and England in friendlies when assessing their chance. Instead their performances in qualifying, in particularly their success over Uruguay, are a better gauge and on that form they may have it in them to progress from Group E.

They'll be doing it for 'Chucho', following the shock passing of Christian Benitez who died of heart failure in Qatar last year.