SCOUTING REPORT: What should the CanMNT expect from Ecuador, Venezuela in November window?
For one final time in 2025, the CanMNT are back together, as they get set for a pair of matches against CONMEBOL opposition to end the calendar year.
First, they’ll take on 23rd-ranked Ecuador at BMO Field in Toronto on Thursday, November 13th, before taking on 50th-ranked Venezuela a few days later in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, November 18th, as they’ll finish the year with a couple of stiff tests.
After a mixed October window, one where Canada fell 1-0 to Australia in Montréal before grinding out a scrappy 0-0 draw against Colombia in New Jersey, this is a big bounce-back opportunity for this Canadian side, who is trying to finish the year on a high note with a pair of victories in these matches.
Unpolished and Uncut. ๐ฌ
— CANMNT (@CANMNT_Official) November 12, 2025
À l’état brut et sans coupure. ๐ฌ
Full episode // Épisode complet ๐https://t.co/fHPgw1ayDX #CANMNT pic.twitter.com/TuMJU1CqYn
With the 2026 World Cup rapidly approaching, time is quickly dwindling for this Canadian side, who, after this window, will have just two more camps altogether as a group - and perhaps a third where not everyone will be present.
Because of that, time is of the essence, especially given the new faces in their latest squad and the ongoing injury concerns some of these Canadian players are currently facing.
Every moment together is another valuable opportunity to grow as a group, especially when matchups like these are on tap, showing why it’ll be important for Canada to make the most of the 180 minutes of action that await them this week.
With that in mind, here’s what to expect from Ecuador and Venezuela this window, as well as how Canada might look for those two games.
Ecuador looking to continue meteoric rise with big 2026:
It feels like it’s been a historic period for Ecuadorian soccer, as the country has been on a big ascent lately, qualifying for a second straight World Cup (and fifth total).
Armed with a generational group of young talent, they cruised through World Cup qualifying, finishing second despite earning a three-point deduction before qualifiers had even kicked off due to a player eligibility scandal in the previous cycle.
Despite starting with that deduction, they soared to a record of 8W-8D-2L in 18 games, finishing with 29 points - only the defending World Cup champions, Argentina, had more points than them, with 38. 
The CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying table (Google)
Then, among those 18 games that Ecuador played, only Argentina and Brazil were able to defeat them, giving an idea of how tough a side they were to face. In particular, they were excellent at home, where they were undefeated (6W-3D-0L), the only team to accomplish that feat, as they used the altitude at which they play to their advantage.
At the same time, they weren’t bad on the road, either - the eight points they picked up in nine games might not seem like a lot, but it was the third-most in the region, which A) gives an idea of how hard it is to win away in South America, and B) shows why this Ecuador team is so highly regarded.
Now, they enter this game in good form, too, as they’re undefeated in 13 matches, with their last defeat coming against Brazil in World Cup qualifiers last September.
Interestingly, despite all of their success in World Cup qualifying, it’s worth noting that Ecuador changed their coach partway through that process - current head coach, Sebastián Beccacece, only joined in August of 2024 after Félix Sánchez was sacked following his team’s quarter-final exit at the Copa América. For context, that defeat came at the hands of eventual champions Argentina in a matchup only made possible by Ecuador surprisingly finishing second to Venezuela in their group, which was why they were less forgiving of such a quarter-final defeat.
Since his arrival, though, Beccacece’s approach can be best described as low-event - in 14 games in charge, six (!!) of Ecuador’s games have finished as 0-0 draws, while four others have been 1-0 affairs, as his team has scored just 11 goals (with four of them coming in one game) and conceded four goals in those 14 matches.
35-year-old Enner Valencia's still got it ๐ช๐จ pic.twitter.com/lrTNOJCx0W
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 11, 2025
What that shows, however, is the challenge that Ecuador faces ahead of next summer - and it’s something that predates Beccacece - and that’s that they don’t score enough. In qualifying, Ecuador scored just 14 times and conceded only five goals in 18 games, as they were extremely elite defensively, but middling to okay in attack.
While that sets them up well for knockout competition at the World Cup, and is less of a worry in group stage play with the expanded format with 48 teams, they’ll want to be more dangerous offensively in the biggest of games if they’re to dream of a deep run.
Ironically, they had a bit of the opposite problem at the 2022 World Cup, where they scored four goals but conceded three, as they were unable to exit from Group A with hosts Qatar, the Netherlands and Sénegal, so they’ll hope for different fortunes next summer.
Returning to their style of play, however, unsurprisingly, most metrics back up the idea that this is a low-event side - in the last calendar year, Ecuador averages just 1.12 xG, 9.9 shots and 50.36% possession per game offensively, but concedes just 1.16 xG, 10.3 shots and 49.64% possession without the ball, as they do well to slow the game down in their preferred 4-2-3-1 (which sometimes plays like a 4-4-2).
Yet, when pulling the hood back on their offensive numbers, their big concern is that they don’t take a lot of quality shots, as not only do they average an xG per shot of around 0.11, but they have an average shot distance of 20.34 yards.
On the flipside, as expected, they’re quite good defensively, as their PPDA (passes per defensive action) of 11.52 shows that they’re decent on the press, and they defend their box well, keeping opponents' shots to an average xG of 0.11 per attempt, and a shot distance of 19 yards.
For what it’s worth, though, while Beccacece will look to extract more offensive juice out of this team, it’s important to note that a big reason for these struggles is out of his control - his team’s best players are all defenders and midfielders.
¡Tenemos nuestros convocados para enfrentar a ๐จ๐ฆ y ๐ณ๐ฟ!
— La Tri ๐ช๐จ (@LaTri) November 8, 2025
Alcemos nuestra @PilsenerEcuador y apoyemos a este equipo que vestirá nuestra camiseta con orgullo ๐ช๐จ.#ClasificarEsSoloElComienzo ๐ช๐ป#LaTriNosUne ๐ช๐จ #LoNuestroEsPaArriba ๐ป pic.twitter.com/HV7fieK13R
When looking at this team, for example, three big players stand out - Moisés Caicedo (Chelsea), Piero Hincapié (Arsenal) and Willian Pacho (PSG), with Caicedo sitting as one of the top midfielders in the world, while Hincapié and Pacho are rising young defenders, with Pacho, in particular, having had a big rise over the last year with PSG’s domestic success in 2024-2025. And this group doesn’t even include Pervis Estupiñán (AC Milan), the talented full back who isn’t in this latest squad, as he’s also a key part of this Ecuador side.
Moises Caicedo. Relentless.
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 4, 2025
๐ต @ChelseaFC pic.twitter.com/6uih23b7PI
Meanwhile, in the attack, Ecuador’s six forwards for this camp have scored a combined 50 goals, and 48 of them all come from one name - the 36-year-old Enner Valencia (Pachuca), who remains this team’s most impactful player, having scored six goals in World Cup qualifying (which was fourth in the region).
No doubt, Valencia is an excellent player, one with a knack for showing up in big matches (especially at the World Cup), but at his age, Ecuador will have hoped they could’ve at least eased the role he still has to play in the attack by now.
Yet, that’s the reality they face - they’ve got an extremely young squad, as the team that’s travelling to Toronto has only three players over 30, but 21 (!) players 25 and under, so this is still a team in transition despite their recent success. It’s an extremely talented side, yes, considering that they’ve got 18 players playing in Europe, including seven at ‘tier one’ clubs, but they’re still ripening as a group.
Thanks to big improvements in the developmental pathway in Ecuador, they’re pumping out top-level talent at an impressive rate, but as of right now, this current generation is defined by impressive midfielders and defenders - so they’ll hope a promising forward can emerge soon (and they wouldn’t hate to have a young goalkeeper develop, either, given that their main option, Hernán Galíndez, is now 38).
What’s for sure, though, is that it’s expected Ecuador qualifies for a lot more World Cups going forward, as they try to become a South American power, one that can improve on their best-ever World Cup finish (Round of 16, 2006) and win their first-ever Copa América (they’ve never finished higher than fourth, which Canada achieved in 2024) in the years to come.
Venezuela’s struggles continue:
Meanwhile, in Venezuela, they’re dealing with a familiar reality - they’ve once again failed to qualify for a World Cup after a tough campaign, leaving them as the only CONMEBOL side to have never reached that tournament.
Along with the fact that they’ve also never finished higher than fourth place at the Copa América, there’s no doubt that this team is left feeling like they could’ve accomplished a lot more, even despite the struggles that the country continues to battle away from the football pitch.
Sticking with this team, however, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for them - certainly, it appears that a generational shift is on the horizon.
That’s clear when looking at their squad for this window - they’ve got just three players over 30, compared to 22 players 25 or younger, including eight players who are 21 or younger.
๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐จ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฌ
— La Vinotinto (@SeleVinotinto) November 7, 2025
Estos son los jugadores convocados para enfrentar a Australia y Canadá en los amistosos internacionales.
๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ด๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ será el DT de interino para la Fecha FIFA de noviembre.
#SiempreVinotinto pic.twitter.com/htB1q4Wn93
Meanwhile, they’ve lost two important veterans in Tomás Rincón (who is the most-capped Venezuelan in history) and Salomón Rondón (who is their top scorer) to retirement, further signifying the generational shift that is about to occur.
After picking up just 18 points in 18 games in World Cup qualifying, conceding the most goals of any team with 28, they’ll now look to quickly recover from finishing 10 points adrift of an automatic spot and two points from the intercontinental playoff spot in the table.
As a result, head coach Fernando Batista is out after a two-year stint, but he’s yet to be permanently replaced - meanwhile, Fernando Aristeguieta will helm the team on an interim basis for this window, although it remains to be seen whether or not he’ll be a permanent fixture on the sidelines going forward.
Because of that, it’s hard to know what this team might look like, but the big priority for Aristeguieta will be to clean up his team’s play defensively, as over the last calendar year, they’ve allowed 2.2 goals, 1.73 xG, 12.7 shots and 63.95 % possession per 90 - and have generated just 1.1 goals, 1.02 xG, 8.8 shots and 36.05 % possession, by comparison, so it’s not as if they’re pouring in the goals, even if they’ve been decent in the attack, doing well to push numbers forward in their 4-2-3-1 formation.
In terms of this Venezuela squad, the big thing to watch out for will be the newer faces, as only five players have more than 30 caps, but no one has fewer than 50. Of that group with more than 30 caps, Cristian Cásseres (Toulouse) is probably the big piece of this team to watch going forward, as he’s their lone ‘tier one’ player, but there’s a lot of promise among the young players.
More specifically, there are a few MLS players who will offer intrigue from a Canadian perspective, as Telasco Segovia (Inter Miami), Daniel Pereira (Austin), David Martínez (LAFC), Kevin Kelsy (Portland Timbers), Wikelman Carmona (New York Red Bulls) and Ender Echenique (FC Cincinnati) all play in the league, and will be a bit more familiar to both Canadian players and fans.
Otherwise, though, the team is mostly made up of players playing in South America and smaller European clubs - they’ll now hope to push to higher levels in the years to come as they prepare for the 2030 World Cup cycle, and for that next Copa América, whenever that might be.
What to expect from Canada?
With that in mind, it’ll be fascinating to see how Canada tackles this window, one that does pose some interesting challenges for them.
For example, one intricacy is the schedule - instead of playing their first game on a Friday, as they have for the last two windows, they play on Thursday, which gives them less preparation time than usual.
#CANMNT Squad Named for November: Key Clash on Home Soil and Copa América Rematch ๐จ๐ฆ
— CANMNT (@CANMNT_Official) November 6, 2025
Canada will first face Ecuador on Thursday 13 November at BMO Field in Toronto, match presented by @VisaCA, followed by a match against Venezuela on Tuesday 18 November at Chase Stadium in Fort… pic.twitter.com/nvwUYQ3FVf
Plus, when looking at the two teams, it’s clear that Ecuador will be the tougher match, meaning that it’s expected that Canada plays a stronger lineup for that game - especially when considering that they’re at home, with a big crowd expected at BMO Field for that one.
Because of that, don’t be surprised to see Canada put out something like this for that match, as they test themselves against what is probably one of the two best teams they’ve faced this year, other than Colombia. 
After a good performance against Colombia, they can build on the team they used in that game and hope they can grind out a victory, one that would certainly be quite big given the level of the opponent.
Then, against Venezuela, it feels like they can rotate a bit more, which could perhaps allow them to hand a first start to a new dual-national like Alfie Jones, as well as minutes for players who haven’t seen as much action as starters for Canada lately, such as Promise David, Jayden Nelson, and Nathan Saliba. 
It’s worth noting that Venezuela will be quite motivated to play Canada, as they were eliminated by this Canadian side at the 2024 Copa América, but that’s not a bad thing - it’s not as if Canada’s friendlies have been without intensity, as they’re a team that feeds off that sort of energy.
HISTORIC MOMENT FOR CANADA!
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 6, 2024
โฐ#CA2024 pic.twitter.com/AgrrIP4cvy
Overall, though, Canada’s objectives for this window are clear.
Firstly, they need to be much better offensively after going without a goal in October, especially against an Ecuador side that is extremely good defensively, so look for them to continue their ongoing quest to be better at breaking down low blocks.
Secondly, they want to continue to try and finish games stronger, as pushing for better second halves is a big priority, one that dates back to this summer.
Lastly, they want to continue to evaluate players in their squad, as they weigh important decisions across the board, with the clock continuing to tick towards the time at which they will name their World Cup squad next summer.
Overall, this window should offer them the opportunity to achieve all of those things, so look for Jesse Marsch’s side to make the most of this camp and close out 2025 on a high note.
