Ecuador cruise into second round

Ecuador strolled past Costa Rica 3-0 and into the second round of the World Cup on Thursday for the first time in their history.

Goals in either half from Carlos Tenorio (8th minute) and Agustin Delgado (54th) and then a late strike from Ivan Kaviedes kept the South Americans' 100 percent record in Group A intact following a 2-0 win over Poland in their opening match.

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Degado and Tenorio were also goalscorers against the Poles.

The group winners will be decided when Ecuador meet the hosts Germany next Tuesday. The Ticos, meanwhile, head home after the first phase for a second successive finals.

Despite early pressure from Costa Rica, Ecuador opened the scoring after eight minutes when Tenorio headed home from a nicely floated cross by Luis Valencia.

Costa Rica came out fighting once again in the second half, but their enthusiasm was short-lived as Ecuador doubled their tally in the 54th minute with a superbly taken goal.

Edison Mendez won the ball on the right hand corner of the box before Delgado pounced on to the loose ball, controlled it with his chest, before rifling home from a tight angle.  

Two minutes into injury time, Kaviedes turned the ball in with a volley after a cross from the right to make it three.

The early goal in the first half seemed to settle the South Americans and they began to take control of the game, stringing together long pieces of passing play

Their opponents were reduced to long range shots which never really troubled Ecuador.