Uruguay are still in automatic qualifying places in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying, but they've produced their second consecutive disappointing result during this international break. Many expected them to follow up their terrible 4-0 loss to Colombia with a home victory on Tuesday, but they could only manage a 1-1 draw against Ecuador.
Uruguay Vs. Ecuador, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Final Score 1-1, Disappointing Draw For Home Side
The visitors were gifted a lead just seven minutes into the match. Diego Lugano, whose age has caught up with him quickly, was caught a step behind Felipe Caicedo and hacked down the Ecuadorian striker in the penalty area. Caicedo stepped up and scored the spot kick to give his side a shock lead.
For most of the game, the sides were evenly matched, though Uruguay had the slightly better of the play. It took them until the 66th minute to turn that into anything positive, with Edinson Cavani converting his side's only goal, cleaning up after a bit of a scramble in the box.
Just before that goal, there was a controversial yellow card shown to Ecuador striker ‘Chucho’ Cristian Benitez for diving in the box, when it looked like he might have won a penalty. The replays were inconclusive, but even if Benitez was contacted, he went down very easily.
In stoppage time, Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia was shown a second yellow card and sent off for a foul on Diego Godin. While it had no impact on the match, his suspension will seriously hurt Ecuador in their next match.
We’ll have coverage of every match in our CONMEBOL 2014 World Cup qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.
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