Felipe Caicedo: How tragedy will inspire his World Cup bid

Martyn Thomas 09:11 20/02/2014
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  • Inspired: Caicedo is aiming to perform on the pitch in honour of his late friend Benitez.

    As Felipe Caicedo looks forward to a first-ever appearance at a World Cup finals, he does so with mixed emotions.

    The Al Jazira newboy was instrumental in Ecuador’s qualification campaign, notching seven goals as La Tri finished ahead of Uruguay in the fourth and final automatic spot in South America, on goal-difference alone. He feels they have a good chance to make it out of Group E too.

    The 25-year-old is not scared by the prospect of facing Switzerland, Honduras and France in Brazil, reasoning that “all the teams are on the same level”.

    But Caicedo knows that his country’s third finals appearance will not be an easy one, mainly because they will make the trip without their talismanic captain, and his close friend, Christian Benitez.

    The pair had played together for Ecuador for the best part of eight years before Benitez’s sudden and tragic death last July. The former Birmingham City striker, who was just 27, died hours after making his debut for Qatari club El Jaish.

    In the wake of his passing, Ecuador won only one of their final four qualifiers.

    “It’s going to be difficult because Benitez was one of the best strikers in Ecuador and our captain as well,” Caicedo tells Sport360°.

    “It’s going to be hard because he is not here anymore. We have to continue and we have to keep going on this line to do the best for him because he used to be with us but now he isn’t.”

    The powerful 25-year-old’s voice trails off as he completes that sentence, before adding: “He was one of my best friends, one of the best players. Of course it will affect us but we have to keep going.”

    To their credit that is exactly what Ecuador did last October, sealing a vital 1-0 win over Uruguay in Quito that rendered a 2-1 defeat to Chile irrelevant four days later.

    Coach Reinaldo Rueda dedicated qualification to Benitez, while the crowds who greeted the team on their return from Santiago chanted his nickname “Chucho”.

    And Caicedo believes the tragic event can help spur La Tri onto great things this summer.

    “100 per cent, we qualified for him and now we want to do our best in the World Cup for him,” he says.

    The Jazira striker also thinks that Ecuador have an advantage as the tournament will be played so close to home, meaning they will not only be used to the climate and conditions but they should have decent support.

    He said: “The World Cup is not easy. It is the World Cup and the best teams are there, the best players. So it’s going to be difficult. But maybe for us it’s going to be, not more easy, but more comfortable because we will play in South America, near our own country. So it’s going to be good because our families are going to be there.”

    Ensuring that he was ready to play in Brazil was crucial to Caicedo’s decision to join Jazira from Lokomotiv Moscow last month.

    It was a transfer that raised a few eyebrows, not because he was enjoying himself in Russia but because he had the opportunity to sign for Valencia. It is not every day a player in his prime shuns La Liga for life in the Arabian Gulf League, but Caicedo explains that Jazira offered him something he would not have been guaranteed at Valencia – security.

    “They did their best to make me come here,” the former Levante striker says, inferring that their Spanish counterparts did not.

    It was hoped Caicedo could fire Jazira’s title challenge in the second-half of the season, but having arrived without a competitive start since mid-November, the Ecuadorian is yet to find the net in four outings for the Pride of Abu Dhabi.

    He has the chance to put that right against Dubai tonight (Thursday 20 February) but insists he is not fazed by his lack of goals and does not feel he has to live up to the feats of the man he replaced at Jazira, Ricardo Oliveira. Brazil striker Oliveira scored more than 100 goals for the capital club before joining Al Wasl last month, firing them to a first-ever league title as well as a League Cup and two President’s Cup triumphs.

    Caicedo said: “I feel pressure from myself because I want to do my best, I want to do well. Of course Oliveira was one of the best players at Al Jazira in the last four or five years so of course there is pressure. But I feel pressure from myself because I want to do my best and I want to do well for the team. When a big player leaves and another player comes in, it’s normal that there is pressure.”

    In truth it should come as no surprise that Caicedo is adept at handling expectation; he has had to deal with it since he was a teenager.

    The Ecuadorian was just 19 when Manchester City paid €7 million (Dh35.4m) for his services in January 2008. But bar a run of games in the 2008-09 season in which he scored eight times in 13 starts, he was unable to force his way into the City first-team, eventually leaving in 2011 having been loaned out three times.

    “It is quite normal when you are one of the younger players on the team,” Caicedo says of his lack action at the Etihad.

    “I went to Manchester City when I was 19, of course it’s going to be difficult because in front of me there were some very good players. There was [Emmanuel] Adebayor, [Carlos] Tevez, Robinho.”

    But it is clear the Ecuadorian holds no grudges, and instead looks back on his time at his first Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan- owned club with fondness and pride.

    “I feel happy because now I see that Manchester City is one of the biggest teams in the world,” Caicedo adds.

    “I can see a few friends who were with me before and are now playing at a good level. So that makes me feel happy because they are my team in England, I will always support Manchester City.”

    Factfile

    Born: September 5, 1988
    Position: Forward
    Country: Ecuador (46 caps, 15 goals)
    Career history: 2006-08: Basel (45 games, 11 goals), 2008-11: Man City (35, 8), 2009-10: Sporting (loan – 10, 0), 2010: Malaga (loan – 18, 4), 2010-11: Levante (loan – 29, 14), 2011-13: Lokomotiv Moscow (52, 11), 2014-: A l Jazira (4, 0)
    Favourite sport other than football: Boxing
    Do you ever box? Yes, sometimes in my free time.
    Would you ever switch sports? (laughs) No, that’s not possible.
    Favourite fighter: Manny Pacquiao, he is amazing.

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