The Red Bull Arena hosts Ecuador and Italy this Sunday in an international friendly. Both sides have a big tournament this summer, and will be looking for some big wins in this international break to set them up well.
Ecuador automatically qualified for the Copa America through their status as a CONMEBOL team. The last time out in the Copa America, Ecuador just about progressed out of Group B, but crashed out in the Quarter-finals, losing 3 - 0 to eventual winners Argentina.
In their last five games in all competitions, Ecuador have three wins and two draws.
The trip to Bolivia saw Kendry Paez give Ecuador the lead on the stroke of halftime. Rodrigo Ramallo equalised for Bolivia late on with less than ten minutes to go, but Kevin Rodriguez popped up with a goal in the 96th minute to give Ecuador the 2 - 1 win. The next time out for Ecuador was at home against Colombia. Both sides could only manage three shots on target and both had to settle for a 0 - 0 draw.
It was another 0 - 0 draw for Ecuador, this time against Venezuela. This time Ecuador could only manage one shot on target, though Venezuela didn’t do too much better with two shots on target as the game finished 0 - 0. Ecuador bounced back against Chile. Angel Mena scored the only goal of the game in the 21st minute of the game to give Ecuador the 1 - 0 win.
The last time out for Ecuador was against Guatemala. John Yeboah opened the scoring for Ecuador in the eighth minute and Gonzalo Plata doubled the lead with just five minutes to go in a 2 - 0 win for Ecuador.
Italy, however, had to go through the Qualifiers to qualify for the European Championships this summer. In Group C, Italy took on England, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta and in eight games, Italy picked up four wins, two draws and two losses, leaving them on 14 points, qualifying over Ukraine on goal difference.
In their last five games in all competitions, Italy have three wins, one draw and one loss.
Giacomo Bonaventura opened the scoring for Italy and Domenico Berardi’s first goal doubled the lead before halftime. Another goal from Berardi and a late goal from Davide Frattesi secured the 4 - 0 win for Italy over Malta. The trip to Wembley for a repeat of the Euros Final saw Italy on the losing side this time. Gianluca Scamacca gave Italy the early lead but a brace from Harry Kane and a goal from Marcus Rashford gave England the 3 - 1 win.
Italy bounced back next time out against North Macedonia. Jani Atanasov did manage to score a brace against Italy but a brace from Federico Chiesa and goals from Matteo Darmian, Giacomo Raspadori and Stephan El Shaarawy gave Italy the 5 - 2 win. The visit to Ukraine saw Italy only manage two shots on target as both teams had to settle for a 0 - 0 draw.
The most recent outing for Italy was against Venezuela. Mateo Retegui opened the scoring for Italy in the 40th minute but Darwin Machis equalised before halftime for Venezuela. Retegui scored again late in the second half to wrap up a 2 - 1 win for Italy.
Ecuador and Italy have met just twice in their histories, with the first meeting coming back in the 2002 World Cup Group stage. Italy beat Ecuador in the 2002 World Cup and then both teams picked up a draw in an international friendly in 2005, with Ecuador yet to win in this fixture.