The Brighton Euro 2020 round up that became all about Moises Caicedo
This was meant to be the third part of our Brighton at Euro 2020 (in 2021) round up but recent events involving Moises Caicedo and Ecuador at the Copa America have seen attention diverted from what is happening across Europe at the moment.
You see, the Albion’s 19-year-old midfielder earned rave reviews in his nation’s 2-2 draw against Peru. Caicedo played a part in one of Ecuador’s goals and drew praise from South American football expert Tim Vickey, who tweeted: “Brighton fans should be paying attention to Ecuador v Peru. Moises Caicedo has played an excellent first half hour.”
That he did, Tim. Caicedo was deployed in a central midfield role not too dissimilar to that which Yves Bissouma thrived on his way to winning WAB Player of the Season 2020-21 and being linked with a mega-money move to the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain.
In a dominating display, Caicedo threaded a clever pass that eventually led to Pervis Estupinan’s cross being turned into his own goal by Peru’s Renato Tapia to give Ecuador the lead midway through the first half.
Ecuador doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time, Ayrton Preciado getting onto the end of a Damian Diaz to stab home. So far, so good for Caicedo and his countrymen.
Unfortunately though, Ecuador have made something of a habit of throwing away leads in the Copa America so far – something which will be all too familiar to Moises Caicedo with Brighton having lost 25 points from winning positions over the course of the 2020-21 campaign.
The second half was only four minutes old when Gianluca Lapadula collected Christian Cueva’s pass to pull one back for Peru. Five minutes later and the scores were level, Lapadula turning creator this time to feed Andre Carrillo who made it Ecuador 2-2 Peru.
Despite having only two points from three games, Ecuador could yet progress to the knockout stages of the competition. Four of the five teams in Group B will go through, although Caicedo and co will probably need a positive result from their final match against hosts Brazil on Sunday night.
Making his performance against Peru all the more impressive is the fact Moises Caicedo had come in for criticism earlier in the tournament, Ecuador fans saying he was off the pace as a result of his lack of game time since completing a £5 million move to Brighton from Independiente del Valle in January.
Caicedo has been restricted to playing Under 23s football for the past six months as Brighton ease him into life in England. He surely will not remain in Andrew Croft’s development squad for long however, especially if Bissouma gets the transfer he deserves to one of the big boys this summer.
Away from all that excitement regarding the the Albion’s next big thing, four of Brighton’s five representatives at Euro 2020 (in 2021) are into the last 16 of the competition.
Leandro Trossard made his first start as Belgium beat Finland 2-0 to top Group B. The Vampire of Genk was one of eight changes made by Roberto Martinez as the Red Devils took advantage of the fact they were already guaranteed to progress as group winners.
As a result, Belgium made harder work of the Finns than they perhaps should have done. Both their goals arrived in the final 15 minutes, a a Thomas Vermaelen header coming back off the woodwork to hit unfortunate Finland goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky and bounce in, followed by Romelu Lukaku smashing home a Kevin de Bruyne pass.
Trossard was one of Belgium’s better players in a lively first half, coming close to opening the scoring with an effort that flew just over the bar.
Interestingly, Martinez opted to use Trossard as a right wing back. Graham Potter would have been an intrigued observer, Trossard being one of the few players that Potter did not give a spin in that position for Brighton in 2020-21.
Tariq Lamptey, Joel Veltman, Pascal Gross, Steve Alzate, Ben White, Michal Karbownik, Jayson Molumby and Alireza Jahanbakhsh all had a go there at one point or another last season.
Amidst his constant experimentation, how has Potter managed to overlook a player now fulfilling that role – albeit temporarily – in the number one ranked national team in the world? Belgium will take on Portugal in the next round on Sunday night at 8pm.
Speaking of Veltman, he was an unused substitute as the Netherlands beat North Macedonia 3-0 to make it three wins from three. Memphis Depay scored twice along with Georginio Wijnaldum. The Dutch next face the Czech Republic on Sunday at 5pm.
England beat Czech Republic 1-0 at Wembley with Ben White watching on from the bench. Unless you have been living under a rock, then you will know that it is the small matter of Germany up next for the Three Lions on Tuesday night.
Robert Sanchez is the fourth and final Brighton man into the knockout stages. It took Spain a while to get going against Slovakia but once Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka scored a wonderful own goal with 30 minutes on the clock, it paved the away for the floodgates to open in the second half as the Spanish racked up a 5-0 victory.
Aymeric Laporte, Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres all scored before a second comical own goal from Juraj Kucka completed the rout. Spain face Croatia next on Monday night.
Going home from the tournament is Jakub Moder, whose Poland side were eliminated following a dramatic 3-2 defeat to Sweden. Moder missed the match with a knee injury, meaning that the Pole’s only point at Euro 2020 (in 2021) came in the one game he started – another reminder of how strong the Albion’s midfield options currently are.
Robert Lewandwoski scored twice as Poland came from 2-0 behind to set up a dramatic finish against the Swedes. Unfortunately, it was all in vain as substitute Viktor Claesson hit a 93rd minute winner for Sweden who snatched top spot in Group E ahead of Sanchez and Spain.
