Up to now, there was not much discussion concerning Ecuador in this tournament but after another impressive win for the South Americans it's time to start giving them a closer look.

Ecuador, playing in their second World Cup, cruised through their first two matches, upsetting Poland 2-0 and then triumphing Costa Rica 3-0. They join hosts Germany as the first two teams in group A to book their places in the upcoming second round.

In their play against Poland, they did a solid job defending and counterattacking. The manager has the side playing well-organized and disciplined football. It appeared that Ecuador was as comfortable both in attack and defending.

Again, they were a side who could operate at altitude. They once upset Brazil (1-0) and Argentina (2-0) in their run to the qualifying. Though they won those games at home, they lost those 3 away games just by 1 goal.

Today the South American black horse will meet the hosts Germany. Carlos Tenorio, the striker who has scored in both of Ecuador's games so far, has pain in an ankle and possibly has to miss the game against Germany, whereas Germany may have a matching absentee. Their centre-back Christoph Metzelder has twisted his knee in the previous match.

If they triumph Germany today, Ecuador will top the group then would play the runner-up from Group B, likely to be England or Sweden. Ecuador vs Germany, what a matchup.

By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD online

The article represents the writer's views only