Matchday 15 of the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers gave us some great games of international football in probably the most competitive qualifiers in the world. Ecuador and Brazil played an exciting game full of red cards and VAR overturns.

The game had a hectic start, with Brazil’s Casemiro scoring in the 6th minute after a corner kick was taken, not cleared away properly by Ecuador’s defense, and crossed again to bounce in between the centerbacks and end up right in front of the Real Madrid player. Things seemed complicated for the home team when in the 15th minute Ecuador’s goalie Alexander Dominguez saw a red card for a dangerous high kick against Brazilian striker Matheus Cunha. Later in the game the Brazilian defender Emerson Royal saw a second yellow for a foul and was sent off in the 20th minute. 10 minutes after that, Brazil’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker is sent off for a dangerous kick against Ecuador’s attacker Enner Valencia, however the VAR overturned the red card for a yellow.

VAR appeared once again in the second half when it overturned a penalty given to Ecuador in the 55th minute, after a foul from Dani Alves to Perviz Estupiñán, however, 20 minutes later Ecuador equalized the game after a well taken corner kick by Ecuador’s golden boy Gonzalo Plata which found the head of defender Felix Torres who sent the ball to the back of the net. The game was exciting until the end, since in the 92nd minute Alisson Becker is shown a yellow card that leads to being sent off, however, the VAR overturned the decision and the game ended 1-1.

Ecuador will face Peru on February 1st and a win will qualify them to this year’s World Cup, the same day, Brazil (already qualified) plays against Paraguay.