It’s do or die for Ecuador and Honduras in Group E tonight as a defeat for either will leave them staring at elimination from the World Cup.
Most fans will be assuming that the meeting of Switzerland and France will decide who tops Group E, however, the stakes are just as high in Cuiritiba where Ecuador take on Honduras. Ecuador were very unlucky to lose to the Swiss in their opening game, but Haris Seferovic’s last-minute winner means the South American’s have very little margin for error.
Honduras’ overly-physical approach in their opening game against France received plenty of criticism and rightfully so. It appeared at times that the Central Americans were more concerned with kicking the French players than the ball itself. JOE expects tonight’s game to be one where nerves, passions and tensions are running high. Can these two teams keep their temperament in check and 11 men on the field? We doubt it. That’s why we reckon a 29/10 price on a red card in tonight’s match is a very good bet.
As mentioned earlier , it seemed that Honduras were reading from the “Mark Van Bommel/Nigel de Jong” football manual before their game against the French. Los Catrachos committed 14 fouls against Deschamps’ men as ill-discipline ran amok. Honduras kept the referee busy as he issued four yellow cards and a red one for Wilson Palacios after he shoved Paul Pogba in the back. Keep an eye out for the tough tackling of Garrido , Boniek and Garcia as they seem the prime candidates to keep tonight’s Australian referee Benjamin Williams busy.
Ecuador also base their game around a very physical, high energy, in your fair face style of football as seen by the 15 fouls that they committed against Switzerland. Few of us will need reminding of their World Cup warm-up match against England in Miami when Manchester United winger Antonio Valencia saw red for his clash with Raheem Sterling. Both teams will need a win to realistically keep their chances of reaching the last 16 alive. Desperate times call for desperate measures and usually desperate tackling. We expect someone to be having an early bath tonight, 29/10 looks like a very strong bet.
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