World Cup 2014 Brazil » Group E » Live commentary: Ecuador - France 0:0

Fulltime Summary:
Well that was a pretty uninteresting match! Ecuador needed a win since Swiss had took the lead early on in the concurrent game, but la Tri didn't show any attempts of trying to do so. It almost looked like the didn't want to win at all! Instead, France had a walk-over from the beginning, having some control but not being convincing at all. They had only one chance worth mentioning in the first 35 minutes. Ecuador on the other hand could've tried to capitalize from the French's reluctance to be more dominant. But Rueda's team mostly sent long balls into the box and apart from that only played scure passes in their defense. They didn't take any risks, but rather seemed to be confident with the 0-0. Even after they had countered a great chance by Pogba with a dangerous header by Enner Valencia, they didn't keep up the pressure. The second half began with a red card for Antonio Valencia, which seemed overly hard. Of course, France now took over control to the fullest, while the Ecuadorians, who already didn't seem to believe in their success before, completely gave up. This way the second half stayed offly uneventful and rightfully ended with a 0-0, since both teams didn't contribute enough to this game.

The referee adds four minutes of injury time, will we see a goal in stoppage time?

That's Giroud's second evil misdoing that's been missed by the referee! This time he strikes his opponent with his ellbow, the Arsenal striker clearly should've been sent off by now.

Since Ecuador slowly are giving up their defensive tactics, France find more space for counterattacks! Giroud sends Benzema into the box, but his shot is saved by Domínguez.

Ibarra has the next scoring opportunity for la Tri! But his powerful shot from the edge of the box is parried away by Lloris.

Ecuador manage to counterattack! Arroyo is sent onto the left channel of the box and tries to shoot, but it's blocked by Koscielny.

Deschamps' number of substitutions is now depleted. He replaces Griezmann with Rémy.

Pogba almost scores the lead! After Sissoko sends in a brilliant cross from the right, coming from the left the Juventus midfielder's header just passes the right post.

Swiss are now leading 3-0, so Ecuador would have to score at least two goals to stay in the tournament. Of course, no one really believes in this to happen.

Deschamps substitutes a second striker onto the pitch, but of course Benzema will now act as winger while Giroud, who replaces Matuidi, will be centre forward.

Now Rueda also makes his first substitution: Ibarra comes off the bench and replaces Montero.

Benzema almost has a chance! The Real Madrid forward tries to shoot on the turn, but his attempt is blocked by Guagua. Then the Frenchman tries to find Pogba, but this time Noboa manages to block the ball.

At least the red card probably won't affect the outcome of this game, since Ecuador didn't play convincing before. France take over control of course. Digne can continue to play, by the way.

France don't need much time to have their first attempt! Sagna crosses the ball into the box and finds Griezmann, but Domínguez saves it onto the bar!

Why don't la Tri keep the pressure up after such a promising chance? They should be storming forward, but instead are playing the ball back to their goalie as if the had to kill time. That really makes no sense except they don't believe in winning or don't want to proceed at all.

That's a great effort from both of them! After a foul on Digne, l'Équipe tricolor have a free kick from the right. Griezmann sends in a cross for Pogba, whose header goes onto the top left corner of the goal. But Domínguez is able to push the ball over the bar.

This is a really unspectacular stage of this match, neither of the teams are able to create a chance. Especially France are lacking creativity.

Noboa is heavily bleeding after a duel for a header. The Ecuadorian gets a kind of shower cap that covers his bandage.

More and more, Ecuador keep the ball for a longer time, but they just can't find a way to get forward without losing it.

La Tri have some difficulties in playmaking because the French players immediately attack the player who's currently handling the ball. This way Rueda's team doesn't find a way to create chances at all.

That's a good effort! Sissoko finishes from about 17 metres with his left foot and his shot goes onto the bottom right corner, but Domínguez is able to make a save.

Sissoko and Griezmann can maintain the ball with some luck though having some difficulties in controlling it. Finally, the San Sebastian winger takes a shot from about 20 metres, but goes wide of the right post.

Koscielny lacks concentration! Walter Ayoví plays a very long ball onto the left wing and actually finds Montero there, since the French defender doesn't try to intercept. Montero can't break through from there, though, he eventually loses the ball.

Both teams are feeling out their opposition, with neither one of them taking control in the beginning,

Ecuador team mnanager Reinaldo Rueda only made one player change: Michael Arroyo will play instead of Caicedo. Besides, Juan paredes, Jefferson Montero, Enner and Antonio Valencia already were booked once and would be banned for the next round, if they proceed and receive another one today.

Deschamps underlined that Valbuena didn't take the usual career path of an professional football player: "When players have not come through youth academies and experienced life in lower league football and then have the opportunity to get their foot on the ladder of professional football they are more willing and more determined than others. I know him well, he loves football and when he was not playing so well he resorted to working harder so he could get back to his previous level. He has been rewarded today, he has grown in maturity whereas before some things he was doing were superfluous."

In comparison to their last game on Friday and letting aside that Pogba will play instead of the banned Cabaye, Deschamps made four additional changes in his starting lineup: Mathieu Debuchy, Patrice Evra, Olivier Giroud and Matthieu Valbuena will be sitting on the bench, while Lucas Digne, Laurent Koscielny, Antoine Griezmann and Morgan Schneiderlin will start in their place.

Furthermore, the Ecuadorian players continued to praise their opposition's strength. Walter Ayoví said that the French are "good at creating space but we hope to be able to turn all that around." Top scorer Enner Valencia added: ""They're going to be very difficult opponents, we know France's strengths but we're going to have to take care if we want to hurt them."

Consequently, both Sissoko and Pogba find themselves being in the starting lineup, though the main reason would be Yohan Cabaye's ban due to being already booked twice in this tournament. Mamadou Sakho was also doubtful for today, but the Liverpool defender did recover in time from the thigh injury he had suffered against the Swiss.

After Paul Pogba wasn't part of the starting eleven in the 5-2 win against Switzerland, the media suspected this being a kind of punishment by team manager Didier Deschamps after Pogba nearly got a red card in the first match against Honduras. But the 1998 WC winner denied such implications and mentioned tactical reasons instead: "It was because I preferred to choose Sissoko, who is an excellent player. He is not the same type of player, he has different qualities."

Hypothetically, France could still be eliminated despite of having six points, but therefore the not only would have to lose this match but also, Switzerland would have to win and make up their eight goal deficit regarding France's goal difference. So, to stay in the real world, Le Bleus most probably will proceed to the the next round.