Ecuador boss Beccacece laments 'unfair' loss
Sebastian Beccacece rued what he labelled as an "unfair defeat" after his Ecuador team went down 1-0 to Ivory Coast.
There had been 27 shots (15 for Ivory Coast, 12 for Ecuador) in the contest, with the woodwork struck on four occasions.
Ecuador became the fourth team to hit the woodwork three times and lose in a World Cup match.
"It hurts because it was an unfair defeat," Beccacece said. "I think there are very strong arguments to clearly show that the team competed very well, had the clearest chances and could have won the match, but because of one detail at the end, we leave with nothing."
This result marked the first time that CONMEBOL teams have failed to win any of their first three matches in a World Cup since 197, with Paraguay and Ecuador losing, while Brazil could only draw.
African teams, on the other hand, have gone unbeaten in three consecutive World Cup games against South American opponents for the first time in the tournament's history, after the 1-0 win for Cameroon against Brazil in Qatar 2022 and Morocco's 1-1 draw against Brazil on Sunday.
In fact, Ivory Coast defeated a South American team for the first time in a World Cup, ending a run of three losses (2006 v Argentina, 2010 v Brazil and 2014 v Colombia).
Ivory Coast named its youngest starting XI for a World Cup match since its encounter with Serbia in 2006, with an average age of 26 years and 111 days compared to 26 years and 33 days in that previous fixture.
"It's the first World Cup for all 26 players, a first outing for them, so it was difficult, there was some doubt, there was some fear," Ivory Coast coach Emerse Fae said.
"In the second half, we took more risks, were more concentrated, made fewer individual mistakes.
"Plus, we have great attacking players, like Yan, like Amad, and they were able to get more on the ball, push Ecuador back.
"We respected Ecuador very much in the first half, but over time we grew more confident, and then we managed to hurt them."
