Enner Valencia marked his 100th international performance with the winning goal when Ecuador Argentina defeated 1-0 in a world cup qualification that both parties saw a man.
Ecuador and current world champions Argentina had already qualified for next year’s tournament, but there was no shortage of intensity at Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha.
Valencia thought he had given the hosts an early lead when he bundled the ball past Emiliano Martinez, but the goal was excluded from offside against Ecuador’s captain.
Argentina, however, was reduced to 10 men in the 31st minute when Nicolas Otamendi sealed with Valencia when the former West Ham United drove on to Doel.
And Ecuador finally counted their husband in the 13th minute of the first half of the stopping time when the swinging arm of Nicolas Tagliafico Angelo Preciado caught in the box.
The award of the fine was given after a long VAR assessment, in which Valencia performed to send the resulting spot kick on his milestone outing for his nation.
But the figures on the field were even made five minutes after the restart when Moises Caicedo, who was already on a booking, caught Nico Gonzalez late in midfield.
Ecuador had the chance to double their lead, only for Martinez to thwart Kevin Rodriguez one-on-one, but Sebastian Beccaceece held up for a moral strengthening.
Data Debrief: Argentina fight in the absence of Messi
Lionel Messi played what he said was his last competitive home game in the 3-0 victory of Argentina in Venezuela last week, which suggests that he could sit outside the coming world cup, but his team hopes that their superstar player will be next summer.
Without their record goal in their ranks, Argentina collected an expected goals (XG) in total only 0.34 of their eight shots, which were none of them, compared to 1.81 from Ecuador from their 11 attempts.
Although he only played 12 of the 18 qualifying board of Argentina, Messi was at the top of the goals of the goals with eight goals, the first time he has done this in his illustrious international career. It is indeed the lowest count for a top scorer in the South American qualification, because the tournament was played in its current format in 1996.
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