Gomez - slammed team after Senegal game (Allsport)
ECUADOR HELD BY J-LEAGUE TEAM
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Ecuador's indifferent World Cup build-up continued on Sunday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by J-League side Kyoto Purple Sanga.
Just three days after losing to Senegal, Ecuador failed to hold onto a first-half lead given to them by Alex Aguinaga and had to settle for a draw.
Coach Hernan Dario Gomez slammed his players for their performance against Senegal, and judging by this latest showing he still has much work to do before they make their World Cup debut.
The South Americans, who finished second to Argentina in the CONMEBOL qualifying group, face Italy in their opening game in Sapporo on June 3.
Veteran striker Aguinaga put Ecuador ahead in the 37th minute before Kyoto's Shinya Tomita brought the scores level 14 minutes after the break.
Gomez begin the match with what is likely to be near his first-choice line-up for the Italy game before making 10 substitutions after the break.
After the contest, assistant coach Elkin Sanchez said that the poor performance was the result of tiredness and acclimatisation problems.
"They need to adapt more, but they will be fine," he said.
The only real good news for Ecuador came from the showing of Southampton forward Agustin Delgado, who returned from injury to start the match.
Ecuador will face a youth team from Tottori before facing the Italians.
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