Ecuador coach Luis Suarez has managed to breathe new life into the national team after taking control with the side in trouble and their hopes of appearing in the World Cup finals slim.

Now having led the team to Germany, Suarez is still not content and feels the South American side can progress beyond the first round, which sees them up against the hosts, Costa Rica and Poland.

Suarez inherited an Ecuador side which performed badly at the Copa America in 2004, although Hernan Dario Gomez had left a team with plenty of potential.

Suarez has a positive mentality, and believes the country have the capability to set their horizons further.

He explained: "Apart from Germany we all have the same chances of going through and we will all be fighting for second place.

"We've met Costa Rica many times and we know them well, it is always good to play sides who you know a lot about and we also have a good record against them.

"It is also a great opportunity to play against Germany as we can show the world what we are capable of doing.

"It is true that we do not have much experience against European teams but we will try to prepare as well as possible."

Ecuador played a friendly in Barcelona last December against Poland in which they ended up losing 3-0 in a match which was almost cancelled due to a downpour beforehand.

Although Suarez outwardly was not concerned by the result, citing several key players who were not there, he must wonder how his team are going to deal with the greater physical threat they are likely to face from Poland and Germany.

Colombia-born Suarez has plenty of experience of coaching at international level having been assistant coach for the 1998 World Cup and then coach of the team for the previous year's Copa America.

He was trainer of domestic side Sociedad Deportiva Aucas before landing the top job once again.

As a player he represented Colombia at youth level and his career involved spells at Atletico Nacional and Deportivo Pereira.

His biggest success on the pitch was winning the Copa Libertadores with Atletico in 1989.

A forward with pace but not exceptional technique he was to have far more success as a coach.

He led Atletico Nacional to the league title in 1991 and the Inter America Cup before moving on to work at international level.

Suarez though is modest about his achievements with the Ecuador side this time round and believes that they are simply continuing in an upward curve.

He continued: "The qualification for Germany is nothing more than a mark of the constant progress that has been made in the last 15 years despite the demands put on it by certain sectors.

"There has been continuity in direction with two presidents in the last 12 years and four coaches in 16 years which has been combined with the emergence of players from all corners of the country who are looking for places in the national team.

"I have learnt a lot from the qualifying for this World Cup and I have stepped up a level but now I want to achieve as much as is possible from the next step which is coming up.

"A World Cup is a fiesta of football and we have to be ready for it.

"I will travel to speak to people and discuss ideas and hopefully we will do better than we did four years ago (when they finished bottom of their group in 2002).

"I am conscious that I have a team which is competent but I still want to see how they develop over the next few months and some of them need to mature more than others.

"For some people there may be surprise at what Ecuador is achieving but it is a continuation of the good work started by Dusan Draskovic and then taken on by Francisco Maturana and Hernan Dario."