Position: Defender
Born: 04.12.77
Club: Monterrey

As central defenders go, Giovanny Espinoza and his partner Ivan Hurtado could not be more different.

While Hurtado is calm, cultured and elegant Espinoza can look gangly, graceless and clumsy at times. He is however, a fine header of the ball and a robust presence in the Ecuador backline.

He will make up for any of Hurtado's shortcomings in aerial challenges; indeed he could be just the man to deal with the aerial threat of Germany's Kevin Kuranyi and Miroslav Klose, Poland's Gzregorz Rasiak and Costa Rica's Paulo Wanchope during the group stages.

Espinoza was the only player to play in all 18 South American qualifiers but he will have to keep his mistakes to a minimum at the World Cup.