Ecuador soccer federation president, Luis Chiriboga, said on Sunday it plans to play two friendly games, against Colombia on May 24 in New York, and on May 28 against Macedonia in Madrid.

Both friendlies will include the full team that Ecuador will send to the World Cup finals in Germany, in line with an International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) ruling.

"FIFA decided that all championships would end on May 14, so that players can join the national teams," Chiriboga said. "Ecuador's league championship will end on the 14th and players will gather in Ecuador's capital Quito starting the 16th."|

At the same press conference, the Ecuador national team's Colombian-born manager, Luis Fernando Suarez, said that he hoped to get good performances from the team during the friendlies.

"Colombia's football is very similar to Costa Rica's... and Macedonia's game is similar to Poland's. This will give us a preliminary indication of how our teams will deal with Poland and Costa Rica," he said.

Ecuador is in the same World Cup group as Costa Rica, Poland and host Germany.

Source: Xinhua