Senegal have won both of their previous meetings with Ecuador in all competitions, winning frienmatches in May 2002 (1-0) and December 2005 (2-1).
This is Ecuador’s first ever Fifa World Cup match against an African nation. Meanwhile, Senegal are winless in both of their previous World Cup games against South American sides, with both of these coming in the final group game of a tournament (3-3 v Uruguay in 2002, 0-1 v Colombia in 2018).
If they avoid defeat, Ecuador will qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup for the second time in their history, also doing so in 2006. It would also be the first time they’ve gone through an entire group stage unbeaten.
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Senegal won 3-1 against Qatar in their last World Cup match and are looking for consecutive wins in the competition for the first time. They last won two games in a single tournament in 2002 (one group stage match + the second round match).
Senegal go into MD3 with the chance to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time since 2002 under Bruno Metsu. Current manager Aliou Cisse played in four of their five matches at that tournament.
Against Qatar on MD2, Senegal enjoyed more possession than their opponents for only the second time in a World Cup match (54.7 per cent), along with their 2-1 win over Sweden in 2002 (55.2 per cent). They also completed 432 passes against Qatar, 125 more than they have in any other match at the World Cup.
Ecuador have faced just seven shots in their two World Cup group stage matches so far, with only one of those on target (Cody Gakpo’s goal for the Netherlands). They faced 55 shots and 20 on target in their last group stage at the World Cup in 2014.
Enner Valencia has scored six World Cup goals for Ecuador, twice as many as any other player (AgustÃn Delgado, 3). He’s scored those six goals from just nine shots on target, converting 67 per cent of those efforts on target.
In their 3-1 win over Qatar, Senegal had three different scorers (Diédhiou, Dieng, Dia) in a World Cup match for the first time. They’ve only had more scorers in a single edition in 2002 (4 – Papa Boupa Diop, Henri Camara, Khalilou Fadiga and Salif Diao).
Enner Valencia has scored each of Ecuador’s last six goals at the World Cup, the first player to do so for a single nation since Oleg Salenko for Russia in 1994. He could become the first player in World Cup history to score seven goals in a row for a nation.