{"id":726678,"date":"2026-06-26T06:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/726678\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T06:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:18:17","slug":"world-cup-2026-sebastian-beccacece-goes-from-brink-to-world-cup-history-with-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/726678\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Sebastian Beccacece goes from brink to World Cup history with Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecuador’s World Cup qualification campaign began with a three-point deduction slapped on them back in 2022 for fielding Colombia-born Byron Castillo, who Chile claimed was ineligible to play the qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar. <\/p>\n

They began the 2026 qualifiers under Felix Sanchez, who guided them to three wins from six matches before the former Qatar boss was dismissed in July 2024, straight after a Copa America quarter-final defeat by Argentina. <\/p>\n

“They lost the shootout, and Sanchez was sacked in the dressing room after the game,” South American football expert Tim Vickery told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n

“They treat their coaches with great harshness.” <\/p>\n

Beccacece reign began with a 1-0 defeat by Brazil but his side did not lose again in 11 matches as they qualified for the World Cup as runners-up in South America – only behind the Selecao.<\/p>\n

It meant they arrived at the tournament with high expectations and boasting a 19-game unbeaten run.<\/p>\n

But it was far from the start they or their supporters had hoped for.<\/p>\n

A last-gasp 1-0 defeat by Ivory Coast<\/a> in the opener was followed by a humiliating goalless draw with debutants Curacao – which turned the fans against the coach.<\/p>\n

“I am very sorry I didn’t make \u200bit to the heart of the Ecuadorean fan,” he had said.<\/p>\n

“For the fans who don’t know me, I think I didn’t quite click with them. There is something they don’t like with me \u200band that is fine.”<\/p>\n

After no playing career of note, Beccacece earned his reputation as an assistant to Jorge Sampaoli during Chile’s era of success a decade ago – helping them to reach the 2014 World Cup and secure their first-ever Copa America title in 2015.<\/p>\n

He was also Sampaoli’s assistant at the 2018 World Cup with Argentina while he was in charge of Spanish side Elche before joining Ecuador. <\/p>\n

Having now masterminded Ecuador’s turnaround at the World Cup, the 45-year-old has perhaps achieved the biggest feat of his managerial career. <\/p>\n

“We never feel like we are in hell, nor do we feel like we are in heaven,” he said after beating Germany. <\/p>\n

“We have our feet grounded on earth and we feel and think in the right manner.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ecuador’s World Cup qualification campaign began with a three-point deduction slapped on them back in 2022 for fielding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-726678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}