Ecuador will be aiming to win their third straight World Cup qualifier when neighbours Colombia visit La Casa Blanca on Tuesday.
Ecuador currently sit third in the South American group – three points behind leaders Brazil and two points ahead of seventh-place Colombia
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Gustavo Alfaro’s side lost their opening game to Argentina (1-0), but since then, big wins over Uruguay (4-2) and Bolivia (3-2) have turned their campaign around.
Michael Estrada bagged a brace as Ecuador crushed Uruguay last month, before Carlos Gruezo scored a late penalty last week to hand his country all three points against Bolivia.
It’s fair to say that Ecuador deserved their most recent win. They enjoyed 62% possession last time out and managed to rack up 12 shots (six on target).
Looking at the bigger picture, Ecuador have lost three of their last nine outings in all competitions, with four wins and a draw coming along the way.
Meanwhile, Colombia kicked off their qualifying campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Venezuela last month.
Atalanta forward Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel were the heroes, with Zapata opening the scoring and Muriel adding a double.
However, Carlos Queiroz’s men could only managed a 2-2 draw against Chile on Matchday 2, with Radamel Falcao rescuing a point with a stoppage-time penalty.
Last week, Colombia were thrashed 3-0 by Uruguay, with Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez and Darwin Nunez doing the damage. Everton defender Yerry Mina was also sent off late on.
Since getting knocked out in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Copa America, Colombia have played nine games in all competitions (W3-D4-L2).
Head-to-head: It is no secret that Colombia has enjoyed playing against Ecuador in recent years. Indeed, Colombia head into Tuesday’s clash on a five-game winning streak in this fixture.
Their most recent meeting came in November 2019, with Colombia claiming a 1-0 friendly victory on that occasion.
Team news: Michael Estrada is Ecuador’s danger man. The forward has notched up three goals and two assists in his last eight international appearances, including a brace against Uruguay last month.
Alongside Atalanta duo Zapata and Muriel, James Rodriguez (Everton) and Juan Cuadrado (Juventus) add to Colombia’s attacking firepower.
Yerry Mina is suspended for Tuesday’s match after the Colombia centre-back was shown a red card in last week’s defeat to Uruguay.
Ecuador have secured a number of impressive results recently, but Colombia’s superiority should shine through on Tuesday.
Forebet predicts that Colombia will score over 1.5 goals and keep a clean sheet on their way to victory over Ecuador.