Ecuador stun Germany, advance to WC knockouts
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- Ecuador rallied from a 2nd-minute deficit to beat Germany 2-1, with Nilson Angulo equalizing in the 9th minute before Gonzalo Plata prodded home the 77th-minute winner off substitute Kevin Rodríguez's flick-on from a corner.
- Leroy Sané opened the scoring for Germany, but Ecuador argued Aleksandar Pavlovic's high boot to Pedro Vite's head in the build-up should have disallowed the goal — VAR chose not to intervene.
- Ecuador advances to the round of 32 as one of the top eight third-placed teams after finishing third in Group E behind Germany and Ivory Coast, marking their first knockout-round appearance since 2006.
- Germany had already qualified before kickoff, and their 11-game winning streak was snapped — one shy of the team record set in 1979-80 — with Joshua Kimmich conceding "the opponent wanted to win more than us."
- Coach Sebastián Beccacece, who had faced criticism after losses to Ivory Coast and a draw with Curaçao, apologized to supporters and called it the "third time" Ecuador has filled full stadiums with traveling fans.
- A second-half penalty awarded to Germany for a foul on Kai Havertz was overturned on VAR review after officials ruled Sané had fouled Vite in the sequence leading to the challenge.
- FIFA said the 80,663 attendance boosted the tournament's cumulative total to a record 3,605,357, surpassing the previous mark set across 52 matches at the 1994 World Cup in the U.S.
Why it matters: Ecuador's first knockout qualification in 19 years — achieved against a pre-qualified Germany that fielded the tie with little to gain — validates Beccacece's job despite the team's winless opening two matches, while Germany's 11-game streak ending without the group-stage pressure of elimination tempers the upset's sting for Julian Nagelsmann's side.
