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Ecuador, the World Cup's heroic first-time losers, are to be welcomed home by their country's president.

The Latin Americans were eliminated at the first hurdle of their first-ever World Cup finals tournament.

But they went out in style with a 1-0 win over Croatia in Yokohama on Thursday after courageous defeats to Italy and Mexico.

And they are to be rewarded with a presidential reception, probably the only team to be accorded this honour of the 16 that crashed out after the preliminary round.

Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa announced on Friday that he would receive the team at his palace in Quito on Sunday.

"I'm really happy. The country should be proud and keep supporting this team," he said.

"Their qualification was a great merit, as was defeating a hard team like Croatia."

The Ecuador players broke up into small groups to begin their journey home because they were unable to all get on the same flight.

They plan to meet up in Miami and travel the last leg home together.

The only exceptions were their Colombian coach Hernan Dario Gomez and his assistant, his brother, who are also going straight home.