He is not the youngest footballer to have debuted in the Ecuadorian senior team nor the earliest to have scored a goal with the absolute Tricolor, but with his goal against Bolivia this Thursday, at the Hernando Siles stadium in La Paz, he set a record formidable for the national team.
With his goal on the third day of the qualifiers on the way to the 2026 World Cup, Kendry Páez from Guayaquil is the youngest footballer to score a goal for Ecuador in a World Cup qualifying match (which is equivalent to being the youngest scorer of the Tri in an official commitment).
Páez, who plays for Independiente del Valle, but whose sporting rights belong to Chelsea, scored at the age of 16 years, 5 months and 8 days. He made a kind of ‘double’ because his record is not only with Ecuador: Kendry is the youngest net-breaker in the history of the Conmebol qualifiers.
Jorge Bolaños
On November 23, 1960, before an “extraordinary attendance” of the public at the George Capwell stadium, as EL UNIVERSO said, Ecuador faced the Colombian team Once Caldas, from Manizales, in a friendly match before the official debut in its first round, the played towards the 1962 World Cup in Chile.
That night Bolaños slipped into history with a record that he has not yet lost, at least with the young Kendry Páez. At 16 years, 2 months and 26 days old, El Pibe is still the earliest debut of a national soccer player in the senior team.
Furthermore, the historic Guayaquil star (August 26, 1944-May 24, 1996) killed another bird with the same shot on that night at Capwell. With the goal he scored against Caldas, Bolaños also established himself as the youngest net breaker in the absolute Tricolor.
And although he was lined up against Uruguay, for the second round of the ongoing World Cup, Páez was also unable to deprive Pibe Bolaños of another record. The legendary midfielder who emerged from the Vicente Rocafuerte National School retains the record of being the youngest footballer to play an official match with the Ecuadorian senior team (he established that mark on December 4, 1960, for the qualifiers against Argentina, at the Modelo stadium , aged 16 years, 3 months and 7 days). (D)
2023-10-13 02:49:43
#Kendry #Páez #stops #making #history #Soccer #Sports
