Byron Castillo will not be on the field when Ecuador faces Qatar in the opening match of the World Cup this Sunday (20), at 13:00 (Brasília time), but the image of the lateral will be there, as a symbol of the adversity that the South- faced to reach the World Cup.
The Ecuadorians, 44th in the FIFA rankings, made their way to the fourth and final spot in the campaign of the most difficult qualifying tournament for the Cup, that of South America, overcoming challenges on and off the field that resulted in the exclusion of Castillo from coach Gustavo Alfaro’s team.
The FEF (Ecuadorian Football Federation) decided not to include Castillo among those called up to play in Qatar after Chile filed a lawsuit with the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) accusing him of not being legally able to play in the Qualifiers of the World Cup because his real nationality was Colombian.
Although the Chilean claim was initially rejected, CAS decided that Ecuador would lose three points in the next qualifiers, for the 2026 Cup, and would be fined 100,000 Swiss francs (just over R$ 560,000 at current exchange rates) for using a document containing false information.
Not wanting to risk further legal problems, Alfaro made the decision not to call up Castillo.
“If you had seen the pain that Byron had to endure,” Alfaro said on Saturday (19). “If you had seen the pain of the whole team, the team’s love for Byron … Byron for us is a symbol, and he will be with us on the field, even if he is not there.”
The difficulties Ecuador faced toughened Alfaro’s men, who he said refused to play the role of victims and instead rose to the challenge and moved on.
“We had to go through things we didn’t want to go through, but that’s what happened,” said Alfaro, who is Argentinian. “We saw all of these as obstacles we had to overcome. We never tried to play the victim. We based our work on dreams and our dream was to play in this World Cup.”
Despite Ecuador being considered favorites to leave the Al Bayt stadium with a victory against Qatar, Alfaro classifies the dispute as balanced.
“Qatar are Qatar and they have been preparing for this match for over 12 years,” said the coach. “They’ve been preparing for five, six months, playing friendlies, which means they’re a very well-organized and well-prepared team.”
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