Honduras forward Carlo Costly opened the scoring following a lively start but
Ecuador soon hit back through Valencia, who notched up
his sixth international goal in as many games.
With opportunities being spurned and Honduras also having a goal correctly
ruled out, Valencia was on hand to put his Ecuador in
charge with a second-half header.
The win moves Ecuador level on three points with Switzerland and they also
boast a superior goal difference to the Europeans.
It also means France are not yet confirmed qualifiers for the knockout stages
despite their two comfortable victories so far.
Both sides missed chances to take an early lead before Valencia could only
fire wide once he had been freed with a long ball forward.
It was another lump forward that undid Ecuador as they failed to deal with a
long kick from Alexander Dominguez with Costly
collecting the loose ball and firing home to open the scoring between the two
group outsiders.
It was Honduras' first World Cup goal in 32 years but their joy at leading
the game was short-lived as the in-form Valencia reacted
quicker than any of the Honduras backline to convert Juan Paredes' deflected
shot just three minutes after Ecuador had fallen behind.
Honduras came close to re-establishing their lead before the interval as
Victor Bernardez saw a free-kick
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before Costly hit the bar with a close-range header in first-half stoppage
time.
Jerry Bengston bundled home the rebound but saw the goal rightly chalked off
for handball, with the New England Revolution striker
booked as a
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The second half did not begin with the same vigour with only a wayward shot
from Jorge Claros and a misplaced header from Frickson
Erazo the chances of note for either side.
Honduras once again had a goal ruled out for offside just after the hour-mark
as Costly strayed beyond the last man before pulling
the ball across goal.
Shortly afterwards it was Ecuador who were celebrating a second as Valencia
continued his great form, rising above the Honduras
defence to head home Walter Ayovi's inch-perfect free-kick.
A long-range strike from Hull City defender Maynor Figueroa was the closest
Honduras came to rescuing a
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mercurial vapor x point but, despite the
defeat, they can still mathematically progress from the group.
That outcome would, however, be reliant on them beating the Swiss next week
in Manaus, as well as other results going in their
favour.
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