ECUADOR
An exciting young team but one whose star happened to be their 33-year-old striker and captain Enner Valencia, who scored three goals in the group stage. A defeat to Senegal in the final group game led to an anticlimactic exit from the tournament, but this bunch – with a core of players in their early 20s including star midfielder Moises Caicedo of Brighton – will more than likely be back stronger for future World Cups, as well as the intervening Copa America.
QATAR
Having finished with the worst record for a host nation in the history of the World Cup, the tournament couldn’t have gone any worse for Qatar who lost all three of their group games. An extended training camp meant players hadn’t played competitive club football for over six months heading into the tournament, which appeared to hinder rather than help them once
