ECUADOR TO PLAY IN 2006 WORLD SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

Four slots for the 2006 World Soccer Championship were hotly disputed by the ten South American countries between September 7th, 2003 and October 8th 2005. Ecuador's National Team played seventeen games with the other nine South American national teams. Of the seventeen games, ECUADOR won eight and tied three, earning three points for every victory and one point for every tie. With its October eighth tie with Uruguay, ECUADOR accumulated a total of 27 points

The Ecuadorian National Team scored 23 goals while its several opponents totalled 19, for a net difference of four goals.

This is the second time Ecuador will participate in a World Soccer Championship.

Four years ago, in November 2001, ECUADOR also tied Uruguay winning, for the first time in its history, the coveted slot for the Korea-Japan 2002 Championship.

Soccer is Ecuador's national sport and the games to dispute the right to be in Germany in 2006 were passionately followed by every one of the 13 million Ecuadorians. Wild celebration exploded in every city, town and village when the October 8th game with Uruguay ended in a tie.