Pervis Estupiñán smiles ruefully as he proves those who fall just short cherish their own versions of history. He was only eight and watching at home on Ecuador’s north coast when Carlos Tenorio, given an early chance, hit the England crossbar from close range via the shin of a desperate Ashley Cole.
“A really painful chance,” he calls his first World Cup memory, which ended with Sven-Göran Eriksson’s side reaching the 2006 last eight in ultimate comfort. “Because of that we couldn’t make the quarters but the whole country felt proud because the team had given everything.”
