Ecuador 0-0 Curaçao: FIFA World Cup Match Report

Nobody scored, and for one of these sides that was very nearly the point. Ecuador 0-0 Curaçao was goalless at half-time and goalless at the end, producing the only clean sheet Curaçao kept at the tournament and the only point they took from it — a week after they had been beaten 7-1 by Germany in the same group.

Ecuador came in having lost 1-0 to Ivory Coast on the opening day, so the pairing was a team that needed three points against a team that had just conceded seven. That is the sort of fixture where the scoreline is expected to write itself, and it refused to. Ecuador finished the group with two goals scored in three matches; one of the two matches in which they failed to score was this one.

The goalless first half is less surprising than the goalless second. A side chasing a result against opposition with a nine-goal deficit to repair usually finds a way through eventually, and Ecuador did not. Curaçao's tournament ended 1:9 on goals — one scored, nine conceded — and everything on the right side of that ledger came from these ninety minutes.

It left Ecuador on one point from two matches, with a final-round fixture against a Germany side already qualified. Ecuador won that match 2-1 and still finished third, on four points behind Germany and Ivory Coast, both on six.

That is where the draw becomes the story. A win here would have taken Ecuador to six points and level with the two sides above them, leaving the group to be decided on goal difference instead of on points. Instead the two points dropped here were exactly what their matchday-three victory could not recover, and Ecuador became the side that beat the group winners and finished third anyway.

Curaçao finished bottom on the single point they earned here, having lost 7-1 to Germany and 2-0 to Ivory Coast either side of it.

Our pre-match call was Double Chance 1X (Ecuador or Draw) at 1.42. It landed, though not on the half of the selection we expected. The case was for an Ecuador win: a side beaten only 1-0 by Ivory Coast against a side beaten 7-1 by Germany looks like a straightforward mismatch, and the double chance was insurance rather than the main idea.

The insurance is what paid. Curaçao defended for ninety minutes and got the clean sheet, and Ecuador's inability to break them down eventually cost them second place in the group. Backing the favourite with a draw attached is exactly the shape of bet built for this outcome, and it did its job.

Verdict: won