GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador could do with some good news.
Many provinces are under a state of emergency. Thousands of military and police are fighting a surge in crime driven by drug traffickers. Night-time curfews abound. The fuel crisis has caused severe disruption. The border with Colombia is volatile.
But hope is high and undiminished for Ecuador at the coming World Cup.
The team qualified second in South America to World Cup champion Argentina, losing only twice in 18 games, both times away by one goal in Argentina and Brazil.
Supporters of La Tri believe they’re good enough to surpass their previous best World Cup result, the round of 16 in 2006 in Germany, where Ecuador was ousted by a David Beckham free kick.
“I bought a giant TV on credit so I could watch Ecuador win the World Cup,” says Mario Uquillas, a 43-year-old shopkeeper from downtown Guayaquil.
“I hope that, at the very least, La Tri reaches the quarterfinals. It’s about time, because we have a great team.”
Other merchants at the sprawling La Bahía market are taking advantage of the occasion, including offering Ecuador World Cup jerseys. The most popular feature the names of Arsenal defender Piero Hincapié, Chelsea midfielder Moisés Caicedo, and Paris Saint-Germain center back Willian Pacho.
Hincapié put smiles on the faces of Ecuador fans this week when Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years. Those supporters have another opportunity to see homegrown stars win a major trophy when Hincapié and Pacho clash in the Champions League final next weekend.
Players murdered
Local soccer hasn’t been immune to the country’s violence. In fact, the local scene is stained with blood; five players were murdered last year and three more victims of armed attacks.
The most dramatic case occurred last December in northern Guayaquil when hitmen killed Mario Pineida, the left back of local club Guayaquil Barcelona and a former national team player.
Pineida was at a butcher shop with his mother and his female partner when two attackers shot them repeatedly. The mother was wounded and the partner died. One of the gunmen was arrested but the motive for the attack remains unclear.
Guayaquil, 270 kilometers southwest of capital Quito, ranks eighth among the most violent cities in the Americas, according to the crime index of the international platform Numbeo. Ecuador recorded 9,216 violent deaths last year, a rate of 50.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Ecuadorian Observatory of Organized Crime.
Living in the country’s most violent city has led families to take precautions, especially in the sprawling slums, where children used to play soccer in the streets. Now, at nightfall, they often lock themselves in their homes for fear of the frequent shootings, robberies, or attacks.
And, yet, in this environment soccer manages to thrive thanks to Guayaquil Barcelona, Ecuador’s most popular club. It offers a dream of a better life, starting in the youth academy that once briefly included Hincapié. But he wouldn’t recognize the facilities now — secure and guarded against organized crime.
‘My dream is to be a pro’
The soccer school caters for nearly 300 youths. Piero Ortega, aged 10, has been at the academy for five years.
“My dream is to play for PSG or Real Madrid,” Ortega says. “My dream is to be a professional soccer player.”
Shouts of instructions from coaches can be heard at the academy. Boys and girls chase after the ball and repeat actions to correct plays. They seem to never tire of running.
Another 10-year-old, Washington Vera, controls the ball with great skill, eludes opponents, and delivers precise passes.
“I would like to play for the national team as a right winger,” Vera says, also eager to one day “score goals for the national team.”
Enrique Benavides is trying to deliver those dreams as the coordinator of Guayaquil Barcelona’s academies while also trying to keep the kids safe.
“Insecurity has set a limit for us; fear has entered every neighborhood, every community. Nobody is safe,” Benavides says. ”Given the insecurity, this school offers children the opportunity to attend our pitches and train safely. Before, they played in parks and streets at any time of day, but now that’s no longer possible because of the insecurity.”
That’s why there’s a lot riding on Ecuador at the World Cup to distract their supporters, however briefly, from the violence outside their homes.
The fans’ passion is unbridled, much like their expectations.
“Before, we dreamed of qualifying; now we’re hoping they reach the quarterfinals or semifinals of the World Cup,” Guayaquil lawyer Daniel Sánchez says.
Matías Oyola is an Argentine who has recently moved from being a Guayaquil Barcelona player to the sporting director. He’s also drank the Kool-Aid.
“The World Cup for Ecuador will be a continuation of what they did in the qualifiers,” Oyola says. “It’s going to be excellent.”
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