Ecuador Tickets

Out of the 32 teams that made it out of the qualification round for FIFA World Cup 2014, Ecuador made it into Group E. The team had their work cut out for them - both on the physical and emotional level. The team lost one of their most valuable players - Christian Benitez. He was Ecuador's star forward and had 24 goals in 58 appearances to his credit. He passed away due to a heart failure on July 29, 2013 in Qatar. Benitez had been a contender for the Best Young Player award at the FIFA World Cup 2006; the year that Ecuador had given its best performance to date and had reached the round of 16. Midway through the qualification matches this year, the team was left without their striker and still managed to make it into the World Cup contender list.

However, they were quite inconsistent in their qualification process, with no wins and three draws. They were quite successful at home, though, and beat every team in Quito with the exception of Argentina.

Ecuador's last appearance at the FIFA World Cup was in 2006 and they currently rank at number 28 in FIFA rankings. To everyone's surprise they finished with second place in their pool, right behind the host nation. However they lost out to England, who triumphed 1-0, and moved on to the quarterfinals. They have produced soccer stars like Agustin Delgado, Ulises de la Cruz and Jose Francisco Cevallos.

Ecuador is in Group E, which means their opponents will be Switzerland, Honduras and France. Their first match is against Switzerland on June 15, which is the ninth match of the tournament. It will be held at the Estadio Nacional, in the host city of Brasilia. Brasilia is one of the twelve Brazilian cities selected by FIFA to host the tournament's matches. Ecuador's second match is against Honduras on June 20 at the Arena da Baixada, in the Brazilian city of Curitiba. Ecuador's final match in the preliminary round is against France - 1998 World Cup winners - on June 25. This match will be held at the Estadio Jornalista Mario Filho, also known as the Maracana, which is in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro.

With Benitez gone, there is understandably more pressure on players like wingers Antonia Valencia and Christian Noboa; and forwards Felipe Caicedo, Enner Valencia and Jefferson Montero. These talented players bring a fresh edge to the Ecuadorian national team. Walter Ayovi, Segundo Castillo and Edison Mendez are other evergreen players to Ecuador's credit. Their coach, Reinaldo Rueda is the third Colombian to take the Ecuadorian team to FIFA World Cup qualification.

Ecuador tickets give fans a chance to follow this South American team's journey through the World Cup 2014, and experience the excitement that accompanies any FIFA match. Not to mention, the tournament is being held in Brazil this time around and that has a charm of its own as it is a complete holiday package.