'Biggest World Cup Win For Us': Ecuador Coach Beccacece Hails Team After 2-1 Victory Over 4-Time World Champions Germany

New Jersey: Ecuador coach Sebastian Beccacece celebrated the second goal wildly with the players and continued the celebrations after the 2-1 win over Germany. The team had come out of jail after just one point in two games and trailing through an early goal to stun the European giants and progress into the knockouts.

“The entire country is celebrating. It is the biggest victory for Ecuador in a World Cup. We worked for that, we came with the dream of making Ecuador's best cup ever, and now we did," an animated Beccacece said in the post-match press conference. 

Beccacece had faced criticism after a frustrating draw against Curacao in the previous game. "Football is like that: one day you win, the other day you ⁠lose. We were not in hell before, neither I think we are in heaven now. The important thing is ⁠the balance. I don't think we were better than Curacao, nor did we felt we were less than Germany. We will keep going, with humility, with prudence."

Ecuador's coach admitted it could have been a worse campaign for them, but they had the belief and love from fans to progress. 

“We conceded a late goal to the Ivory Coast in questionable circumstances and couldn’t score against Curacao. It could have been the worst World Cup with two defeats and one draw. But we knew we could manage to go through. We invited everyone to keep united, as unity leads to good things. What an achievement against the (football) powerhouse,” he added.  

German coach admits tactical mistake in positioning

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann admitted tactical suicide with positioning after leading early. Leroy Sane scored a second-minute goal, but Nilson Angulo equalised seven minutes later, and later Gozalo Plata scored the winner in the second half. 

"We got off to a great start. Unfortunately, right after scoring, we started committing tactical suicide with our positioning. That makes things difficult,” Nagelsmann said. 

"Ecuador deserved the win, congratulations to them. They had everything to play for, and you could tell -- they had their foot on the gas. But I also can't say that any of my players didn't give it their all. That's too simplistic,” he added.

Germany is still awaiting their opponents for the Round of 32 clash in Boston on Monday, and Nagelsmann said they have to start well in the knockouts.

"Defeat is never good, not even in a game where you can't lose top spot, We have to learn from it and improve, but we also have to look forward. We won a lot of matches, we lost one, and on Monday it's important to start well and give it everything to get to the next round."