"It is evident that those who have or will leave the national team are of an incredible level. And it is up to us to be able to find those who can continue to keep us at high levels,"
"Obviously, it will be difficult to find players of that calibre but our goal is to continue trusting in what brought us here, knowing that there is always an opponent who can win like today."
"Enner Valencia's goal is the difference as Ecuador defeats Argentina in their last qualifying match #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/5dZBlvSdoc - FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) September 10, 2025"
Argentina lost 1-0 to Ecuador in Guayaquil as Enner Valencia converted a penalty 13 minutes into first-half stoppage time. Angel Di María has retired, Lionel Messi was rested, and Nicolás Otamendi was sent off after 31 minutes, leaving a youthful Argentina unable to overturn the deficit despite Ecuador later being reduced to ten men. Messi finished South American qualifying as Argentina’s top scorer with eight goals. Ecuador kept nine clean sheets in ten qualifiers and limited Argentina to an expected goals total of 0.34. Finding replacements of comparable calibre will be difficult, and the team plans to continue trusting the approach that brought recent success.
Read at Soccer News
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