Although Ecuador has advanced past the group stage only once, nonetheless they have managed to win at least one match in each tournament they participated in.
Ecuador made a losing World Cup debut against worldpowers Italy, falling 2–0 by courtesy of a Christian Vieri double.
Although they finished the tournament last in their group, they managed to eliminate Croatia, previous third-place in 1998 World Cup, from the competition.
[17] Ecuador campaign got off with a shock 2–0 win against Poland in their first game in Gelsenkirchen, with goals from Carlos Tenorio and Agustín Delgado.
[18] They then beat Costa Rica 3–0 in Hamburg with goals coming from Carlos Tenorio, Agustín Delgado, and Iván Kaviedes.
Enner Valencia scored the first goal of the match for Ecuador against Switzerland, but the squad happened to allow the European team to win 2–1.
The last match of the group was played in Rio de Janeiro against France, but nobody scored any goal, despite Ecuador captain Antonio Valencia getting sent off in the 50th minute.