With Caicedo and Valencia on a scoring streak, Ecuador gets ready to face Argentina and Uruguay

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QUITO (AP) — With midfielder Moisés Caicedo and striker Enner Valencia on a scoring streak, Ecuador is preparing to face world champions Argentina and Uruguay in the first two rounds of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The Spanish Félix Sánchez Bass, coach of Ecuador, also summoned the youthful Kendry Páez, barely 16 years old, and who has shone in the U17 teams and in the U20 World Cup.

Caicedo was recently transferred to Chelsea for $146 million, the most expensive signing in the English Premier League.

Meanwhile, Valencia has scored four goals in as many games in the Copa Libertadores to put his team, Inter de Porto Alegre, in the semifinals of that tournament.

These qualifiers Ecuador will start with three points less, due to the sanction imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS for its acronym in French) due to the use of false information in the file of the defense of the selection Byron Castillo.

The most notorious absence is that of the central defender Piero Hincapié, who plays for the German team Bayer Leverkusen, due to a fracture in his right foot, which required surgery a couple of months ago and prevents him from being in the first two dates of the road to the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

On September 7, Ecuador will visit Argentina and five days later it will host the Uruguayan team in Quito.

List:

Goalkeepers: Alexander Domínguez (Liga de Quito), Moisés Ramírez (Independiente del Valle), Hernán Galíndez (Aucas).

Defenders: José Hurtado (Red Bull Bragantino, Brazil), Jhoanner Chávez (Independiente del Valle), Félix Torres (Santos Laguna, Mexico), Robert Arboleda (Sao Paulo, Brazil), William Pacho (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany), Joel Ordóñez ( Bruges, Belgium), Ángelo Preciado (Genk, Belgium), Pervis Estupiñán (Brighton, England), Leonardo Realpe (Red Bull Bragantino, Brazil).

Midfielders: Ángel Mena (León Mexico), Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea, England), José Cifuentes (Rangers, Scotland), Kendry Páez (Independiente del Valle), Carlos Gruezo (San Jose Earthquakes, United States), Jordy Alcívar (Independiente del Valle ), Gonzalo Plata (Al-Sadd, Qatar), Joao Ortiz (Independiente del Valle).

Forwards: Enner Valencia (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Kevin Rodríguez (Independiente del Valle), Jhojan Julio (Liga de Quito).