Venezuela take on Ecuador in Group B at the Estádio Nilton Santos with both teams searching for their first win of this year’s Copa America tournament, while Venezuela have picked up just one point from their opening two matches.
A comprehensive 3-0 loss to the hosts and favourites to lift the Copa America crown, Brazil, saw Venezuela off to a losing start.
El trabajo se instensifica en #LaTri, a 4️⃣ días de su partido ante Venezuela¡No hay tiempo que perder, esto sigue!#VamosEcuador 🇪🇨💪🏽⚽️@CopaAmerica 📍 pic.twitter.com/v9VFlOFJdQ— La Tri (@LaTri) June 16, 2021
El trabajo se instensifica en #LaTri, a 4️⃣ días de su partido ante Venezuela¡No hay tiempo que perder, esto sigue!#VamosEcuador 🇪🇨💪🏽⚽️@CopaAmerica 📍 pic.twitter.com/v9VFlOFJdQ
The things only got marginally better with a 0-0 draw with Colombia, which now makes it just one win from their last eight matches overall.
Venezuela have struggled in the South American section of the World Cup qualifiers too as they’ve managed to win just one of their first six matches.
That came in the form of a 2-1 home win against Chile, but five defeats within these last eight games suggests this upcoming clash against Ecuador could be another tough encounter.
Losses to Colombia, Paraguay, Brazil (twice) and Bolivia have resulted in Venezuela not only sitting second from bottom in the World Cup qualifying table but also in 3rd place in Group B of the Copa America with just one point to their name.
Ecuador were handed a third defeat on the trot when they lost their opening group game in Copa America 1-0 to Colombia which followed previous back-to-back defeats in the World Cup qualifiers against Brazil 2-0 and a 2-1 loss to Peru.
However, there’s cause for some optimism in the Ecuador camp ahead of this upcoming encounter against Venezuela as they’d put together a four-match winning streak which consisted of three wins in the World Cup qualifiers and an international friendly win.
Victories over Uruguay 4-2, Bolivia 3-2 and a crushing 6-1 victory against Colombia has helped lift Ecuador up into 3rd place in the South American qualifying table and one of the automatic qualifying spots for next year’s World Cup finals in Qatar.
In addition, Ecuador recorded a 2-1 win against Bolivia in a warm-up game before the start of this Copa America tournament, so they’ll be confident that they can rekindle that sort of form against Venezuela on Sunday evening.
Ecuador bring an unbeaten record of six matches against their opponents, Venezuela, and having won three of these six encounters, Ecuador look to hold the upper hand in Sunday’s clash.