Despite naming the Paris Saint-Germain defender in their starting XI, La Tri began the game poorly as Leroy Sané opened the scoring from Florian Wirtz's cutback in just the second minute. However, Pacho and co. reacted quickly to equalise just seven minutes later through Nilson Angulo's powerful strike from the edge of the box.
Then, having just entered the final quarter of an hour of play, Gonzalo Plata was there to poke the ball home at the near post after a corner delivery had been flicked on by the head of Kevin Rodríguez, thereby giving Ecuador a lead that they would hold onto until full time.
The win sees Sebastián Beccacece's side finish third in Group E with four points, which is already good enough to secure them a place in the last 32 as one of the tournament's eight best third-placed teams.
ECUADOR 2–1 GERMANY (1–1 at HT)
FIFA World Cup 2026 – Group stage – Matchday 3 – Group E
MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, United States)
Goals: Angulo (9') and Plata (77') for Ecuador / Sané (2') for Germany.
ECUADOR: Galíndez, Franco (Preciado, 64'), Ordóñez, Pacho, Hincapié (Estupiñán, 71'), Yeboah (Torres, 85'), M. Caicedo (c), Vite, Angulo (J. Caicedo, 85'), Plata, Valencia (Rodríguez, 64'). Coach: Sebastián Beccacece.
GERMANY: Neuer, Kimmich (c) (Thiaw, 60'), Tah, Rüdiger, Sané, Nmecha (Beier, 64'), Pavlović (Stiller, 46'), Raum, Musiala, Wirtz (Groß, 73'), Havertz (Undav, 60'). Coach: Julian Nagelsmann.
