World Cup Qatar 2022: in the end Byron Castillo was not called, the player who almost left Ecuador out of everything

The selection of Ecuador will face the World Cup with a majority of footballers who were part of its qualifying process, but betting on a new striker without much international experience, the team announced on its Twitter account on Monday. kevin rodrigueza young player from a team on the rise of Ecuadorian soccer, will accompany the experienced Enner Valencia, Michael Estrada and Djorkaeff Reasco, known here for his participation in Newell’s, on the offensive line.

Ecuador is in Group A of the World Cup along with Qatar, Senegal and the Netherlands. His debut will be on November 20 in the opening match against the host. However, the news goes elsewhere. Ecuador did not summon Byron Castillo for the World Cup in Qatar, the footballer whose nationality triggered the controversy in FIFA, after Chile designated him as Colombian and demanded that he be awarded the points in the direct duels between the two teams during the last Qualifiers. In the list presented by Gustavo Alfaro, the player does not appear. And a new controversy broke out.

The story goes that on November 8, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) had ruled against Ecuador in the case that Chile and Peru had unsuccessfully started at FIFA, but did not give rise to Chile’s request to get Ecuador out of the World Cup. That is to say: he agreed with him, but did not change the scenario. The organism acknowledged mistakes in the documentation of the 24-year-old defender, who works in León, Mexico and for this reason decided to impose an economic fine on the team led by Alfaro and the removal of three points for the next Qualifiers. Which caused a huge stir.

In its controversial decision, the TAS maintained that the Ecuadorian federation (FEF) “is considered responsible for using a document that contains false information, infringing Article 21 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and, therefore, is sanctioned in accordance with Article 6 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code”. As a consequence, he was given a 3-point reduction for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers and a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs.

In September, the defender had referred to the subject and confessed that, if it were not for the help of his family, he would have left football, since he was fed up with everything that happened. He did not refer exactly to the origin of it. “At that time there were many people who supported me like my family. Let it follow that he did not pay attention to what people said. Most were on networks and in stadiums that told me things. That’s why there was a moment when I exploded and said I can’t,” he told Telemundo.

Weekend, Ecuador drew 0-0 against Iraq in a friendly, before publishing the list of 26 footballers. And in the match he suffered the loss of Byron Castillo, who left after half an hour of play after being the victim of a violation.

As it became known, he has a slight ankle sprain, but the doubts are so great that many analysts rule out that this was the reason for his departure. Days ago, doubts regarding his nationality arose again. At least, that was what the Ecuadorian ambassador in Qatar, Pascual Del Cioppo, assured. “Unfortunately, Byron Castillo is not coming to the World Cup. It would be the finishing touch to have Byron come in and score a goal, but unfortunately, the news we have is that he is not coming”, warned the representative at the headquarters of the world event, words that caused a lot of surprise in the local media.

Del Cioppo argued that the measure is due to a decision of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) and not to a decision by coach Gustavo Alfaro. “It is a decision made by the Federationthe safest, to avoid future problems”, commented the diplomat.