Ecuador will resume their World Cup qualifying campaign when they pay Peru a visit in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday night.
It would be fair to say that the two nations have suffered contrasting campaigns thus far in their respective quests to qualify for next summer’s festival of football.
Ecuador took a huge step towards punching their ticket to the 2026 World Cup by holding star-studded Brazil to a 0-0 draw last time out.
That battling stalemate has put second-placed Ecuador on the verge of confirming an all-important top-six finish in the South American standings.
In stark contrast, Peru’s qualification hopes are hanging by a thread as they are now essentially entering must-win territory.
Despite holding Colombia to a 0-0 draw in their most recent outing, the White and Red find themselves sitting second from bottom in the table.
How the bookies view it: Ecuador to edge it
Ecuador – who could all but sew up qualification with a win here – come into this encounter as 6/4 favourites with Boylesports.
A second stalemate in succession involving Peru has been priced up at 15/8 on Boylesports, while a home win can be backed at 2/1 with the same bookmaker.
Head to head: History against the hosts
Ecuador hold the upper hand in terms of the overall head-to-head battle, winning nine of the overall 22 meetings between the pair, including a narrow 1-0 success in the reverse fixture during the current qualifying campaign.
Players to watch: Pedro to pick up a card?
Pedro Aquino has tackled his way into trouble in three of his last five starts for his country. The tough-tackling Peru midfielder is too short to side with to collect a caution at skinny quotes of 4/5, so instead take a chance on him to receive the opening card of the game at 6/1 on Bet 365.
Having picked up three yellow cards across his last six outings for Ecuador, Moises Caicedo also looks worthy of support to go into the book here at 13/5 on Bet 365.
Predicted line-ups
Peru will once again be unable to call upon the services of injured trio Alexander Callens, Miguel Trauco and Wilder Cartagena .
After holding Brazil to a draw last time out, Ecuador boss Sebastian Beccacece is expected to stick with the same starting XI on Tuesday night.
Peru: Gallesse; Advincula, Zambrano, Garces, Lopez; Aquino, Tapia, Carrillo; Polo, Guerrero, Reyna
Ecuador: Galindez; Ordonez, Pacho, Hincapie, Estupinan; Angulo, Vite, Caicedo, Minda; Franco, Yeboah
Anything else catch the eye?
With a tight and cagey contest anticipated on Tuesday night, the 4/5 on Bet 365 for this match to feature between 1-2 goals looks worth getting behind at the Estadio Nacional.
As already alluded to, this bet would have paid out when the duo went up against each other earlier on during the current campaign.
This bet would also have proven profitable in five of the hosts’ previous nine World Cup qualifiers.
GambleAware