Caicedo, Enzo, Mudryk play key roles in important wins for Ecuador, Argentina, Ukraine

11/20/2024 02:36 AM

Lots of international minutes

Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández, and Mykhailo Mudryk all put in important but lengthy shifts for the respective countries in Tuesday's slate of international action, with the first two going the full-90 and Mudryk getting withdrawn only a few minutes from time.

All three would emerge victorious at the end of the day, which is nice. Less nice is that we have a game Saturday lunchtime, one that we definitely mustn't lose, away to Leicester City. So it's going to be a bit of a mad scramble to recover and get ready while traveling halfway around the world for Moi and Enzo.

Such concerns aside, Caicedo, back from a one-match suspension, continued his good form in a massive 1-0 win over Colombia. Ecuador took the early lead but then were reduced to ten men on the half-hour. Turns out that's not a problem when your midfielder can play as if there were two (or more) of him on the pitch.

Kendry Páez went as an unused substitute.

Ecuador have now gone five unbeaten without conceding a single goal, and, at the two-thirds point of the race, and despite a three-point deduction for fielding an ineligible player in a previous qualification cycle, are right in the middle of the 2026 World Cup qualifying action in South America.

Like Caicedo, Enzo Fernández also put in a 90-minute shift as Argentina got back on track with a narrow 1-0 win over Peru. Enzo earned some solid reviews for his performance, even if he stayed off the scoresheet.

And it was a similar story for Mykhailo Mudryk, who played nearly the full game in Ukraine's 2-1 win over Albania. The win means that Ukraine finish second in their group and go into the Nations League playoffs where they could also earn a spot at the next European Championships.

Congrats, all.