Jefferson Montero made his third successive Copa America appearance for Ecuador last night as they beat Mexico 2-1 to keep alive their hopes of reaching the quarter final stage of the competition.

Having played in their opening two games which they lost, Montero played 89 minutes as goals from Miller Bolaños and Enner Valencia were enough to not just give them their first win in this competition but their first success in a Copa fixture for 11 years.

The result eliminated Mexico from the tournament whilst Ecuador must wait for the remaining fixtures to be completed to see if they take one of the places awarded to the third placed teams in the groups.

Two of the third placed teams will qualify but Ecuador are currently the third best third placed team (that's a mouthful!) thanks to their goal difference of minus 2 that came from those opening 2 defeats.

Should Ecuador qualify then Montero would spend a further week in competition at a minimum and the final of the competition is not scheduled until July 4

Photo: Action Images

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