Introducing… Copa Mitad del Mundo
Learn more about the latest tournament to be added to Wyscout’s expanded Youth Competitions Pack and discover some of the stars from this year’s edition.
One of the latest tournaments to be added to Wyscout’s new and improved Youth Competitions Pack, let’s have a look at everything you need to know about the Copa Mitad del Mundo…
Where?
The Copa Mitad del Mundo is hosted in Sangolquí, situated just south of Ecuador’s capital Quito, at IDV’s state-of-the-art facilities.
The majority of the games take place at IDV’s high-performance Ciudad Deportiva, a continent-leading training complex comprising seven pitches, hi-tech gym, audiovisual analysis rooms and lodgings for academy players. For the semi-finals and final, the showpiece matches take place at IDV’s home stadium, the Estadio Banco Guayaquil.
When?
The competition usually takes place in July or August. This year it ran from August 2 through to August 12
Who is involved?
This year’s competition was expanded to 16 teams - doubling the amount of teams previously involved - and featured U18 teams from around Latin America.
In this year’s edition, hosts IDV and their reserve side Independiente Juniors participated, along with the Ecuador U17 national team, making up a strong local contingent, while there were also club representation from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Paraguay and Mexico.
What is the format?
In its current guise, the Copa Mitad del Mundo comprises an initial group stage of four groups of four teams. The top two of each advance to the quarter finals, while the remaining teams go into a classification round, ensuring that everyone plays six times and determining a final placing of 1 to 16 for all teams involved.
Despite having lots of shots and possession, their xG per shot of 0.106 was lower than the tournament average (0.11) but they were still joint-third highest scorers. Their 10 goals were in-line with their xG of 8.99, suggesting that they created a good amount of goal-scoring chances and had the quality to take those opportunities.
By looking at the stats around xG, we can see that Uruguayan side Peñarol and beaten finalists Ecuador were the sides that over-performed their underlying numbers in front of goal. This could indicate a number of conclusions, such as boasting superior finishing, being potent from more speculative shots or potentially even benefiting from a bit of luck.
Despite Red Bull Bragantino and Sporting Cristal appearing lower in this metric, they were two of the tournament's higher scorers, suggesting that perhaps with better finishing or more fortune, they could have scored even more.
Standout Players
As demonstrated by the graph below, Universidad Catolica forward Juan Francisco Rossel was one of the top attacking players on display at the 2023 Copa Mitad del Mundo. The Chilean had the joint most direct goal involvements, with 5 goals and 1 assist, and no player had more shots (24) or touches in the penalty box (38).
Another of the top scorers who charted highly was Ecuador U17 striker Allen Obando. As well as his four goals, Obando had the highest xG of 3.17 in the competition, demonstrating his ability to get into good scoring positions and the ability to take his chances. Strong in the air and clinical in the box, Obando has already made his debut for Barcelona de Guayaquil and recently scored his first senior goal.
One of the revelations of the tournament came in Obando’s teammate, Erick Zambrano. Despite being just 15 years old, Zambrano topped Copa Mitad del Mundo for assists (3) and recently became the youngest player to debut in the Ecuadorian LigaPro - besting the record previously set by the aforementioned Kendry Paez.
Dubbed the ‘Cavani of Orense’ due to his physical similarities to the Uruguayan striker, Zambrano was the tournament’s leading player for offensive efficiency. Calculated by comparing the difference between a combined expected goals and assists with their actual output, we can see the players who had the highest outperformance.
Also jumping out of the offensive efficiency numbers are RB Bragantino’s top scorer Gabriel Andrade and another Ecuador youth international, Michael Bermudez. The duo has the best goals per minute ratios - 1.54 and 1.9 per 90 respectively - and perhaps could have ranked higher if they had been afforded more minutes.
Finally, a player who scored highly on both of the previous metrics was Atletico Huila’s Tomas Diaz. The 18-year-old Colombian left-footed winger was named as player of the tournament after scoring 4 goals and impressing with his technique, dynamism and ball carrying.
Huila, who are now owned by the same owners as IDV and will hope to replicate a similar model to the Ecuadorian upstarts, look to have a real gem on their hands.
