Coach: Luis Suarez
Tactics: South American flair but weak away from home.
Star Player: Agustin Delgado - flopped in England but remains Ecuador's key striker.
Verdict: Beat both Brazil and Argentina in qualifying but struggled away from their high-altitude Quito base. A third-placed finish in the South American zone suggests, however, they have the players to make an impact. The fact they are a relatively unknown quantity may count in their favour. Should progress past the group stages.
Ten things you didn’t know about Ecuador
1. Under Ecuadorian law a woman can be returned to her parents if her husband finds out she is not a virgin on their wedding night.
2. Cotapaxi, just south of Quito is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.
3. The wildlife-rich Galapagos Islands belong to Ecuador. One of the strangest looking birds of the Galapagos is the blue-footed boobie whose webbed feet look like a pair of rubber flippers.
4. Mike Judge – the creator of Beavis & Butthead and King of the Hill was born in Ecuador.
5. Ecuador is a great place for culinary adventures. If you’re feeling up to it you can sample roasted cuy (guinea pig), tronquito (bull penis soup) or yaguarlocro (potato soup made with sprinklings of blood).
6. The night before the San Pedro and San Pablo festivals – held on 29 June each year – bonfires are lit in the streets and women wanting to become pregnant jump over them.
7. Ecuador is no bigger than the US state of Nevada.
8. Despite its tiny size birds Ecuador is home to 4,500 species of butterflies, 1,640 species of , 345 species of reptiles, 358 species of amphibians, and 258 species of mammals.
9. The Panama hat comes from Ecuador not Panama. The straw hats got their name because they were shipped through the Panama canal on their way to the US.
10. Ecuador won a gold medal at the 1996 summer Olympics in the Men’s 20km walk
