Ecuador Jordi Cruyff is new national boss
Federation hoping coach will boost World Cup qualifying campaign
“You don’t really imagine how much of a difference it makes...and this is an important advantage that we have” Jordi Cruyff on playing at altitude
The numbers do not lie. Since South America introduced its marathon World Cup qualification programme in 1996, Ecuador have picked up a total of 112 points at home but just 36 away. And the contrast is especially stark in the last two successful campaigns, those of 2006 and 2014, where the team made it to Germany and Brazil. In 2006 the split of points won home and away was 23-5. In 2014 it was 22-3.
Underpinning this, of course, is the phenomenon of altitude, with Ecuador playing their home games at Quito, some 2,800 metres above sea level.
While this may not present the difficulties of La Paz in Bolivia, which is around 800m higher, the statistics surely bear out the fact that Quito is a cause of discomfort for the unacclimatised visitor.
Some feel the effects more than others, but the overall consequence is that the lack of oxygen in the air reduces a player’s athletic capacity to run as hard and as often. And then there is the effect on the ball, which, suffering less resistance, flies through the air quicker, giving extra potency to long shots and providing problems for goalkeepers.
There are also problems for coaches who are not used to the conditions – such as Jordi Cruyff, the new choice to take charge of Ecuador’s national team.
“It is one thing to read about the effects of altitude,” said the Dutchman after being presented to the media. “But you don’t really imagine how much of a difference it makes. And I’ve noted it over the last few days. Now I can understand the effects it has on a player who is not adapted to the conditions, and this is an important advantage that we have.”
It is a very revealing quote and one that makes it quite clear that Cruyff is diving into the deep end.
The next version of South America’s fiercely competitive World Cup qualification campaign kicks off in March and, for all the glory of his name, Cruyff is a rookie boss. The 46-year-old’s experience is restricted to quick spells in Israel and China, but he now steps up to a level at which almost everything is unknown. Even he cannot know for sure if he is good enough. He will not know a great deal about the players at his disposal, or their opponents, and only now is he discovering the terrain of battle.
He does, however, have some interesting raw material to work with.
Although Ecuador lost all four games at the recent continental under-23 championship without scoring a goal, there are some promising players coming
through – graduates of last year’s under-20 side who won the South American title and went on to finish third in the World Cup at that level. And Cruyff has been pleasantly surprised by the quality of Ecuadorian players, seizing onto a defining characteristic.
“They have great physical potential,” he says. “They are athletic and dynamic.”
Indeed, this has been a defining trait in Ecuadorian football, where for all their financial problems, the country’s clubs have regularly punched above their weight in continental competitions. In the last five years a total of six Ecuadorian clubs have made it out of the group phase of the Copa Libertadores. Only Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay can boast better.
The Ecuadorian game is based on quick transitions to athletic wingers. Some of this has to do with the characteristics of the players; some with altitude and the desire to force opponents to run as much as possible.
This, of course, is a very different style of play from that which is so associated with the Cruyff name – and it is hard to see how Jordi would have landed the job if his surname was different.
But opportunity has come his way and it will be fascinating to see what he does with it.