- Title: ECUADOR: SOCCER - Thousands turn out to welcome home LDU
- Date: 5th July 2008
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (JULY 03, 2008) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LDU SOCCER FANS GATHERED OUTSIDE AIRPORT WAITING FOR TEAM TO ARRIVE
- Embargoed: 20th July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ecuador
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVABZAK793LITEGIYMQGZJF95VPK
- Story Text: Thousands of soccer fans take to the streets of Quito to celebrate and welcome home the soccer team LDU who return from Brazil with the Libertadores Cup, the first Ecuadorean team to ever bring home the trophy.
Thousands of soccer fans took to the streets of Quito on Thursday (July 03) to welcome back LDU, the first team in Ecuador's soccer history to bring home the Libertardors Cup.
Blaring car horns and cheering, the team road through the streets of Quito atop a bus, carrying the coveted cup.
"We always felt the support and it wasn't only 11 players behind (the victory), it was a people, all of LDU's fans, the people of Ecuador," coach Edgardo Bauza said during a news conference after returning to Quito from Brazil. His nickname is Big Duck.
The Quito-based team's win on Wednesday came six years after Ecuador played at their first World Cup and two years after they went one better by reaching the last 16 in Germany, their run ending with a 1-0 defeat to England.
Goalkeeper Jose Cevallos, 37, was the LDU hero, saving three shots as his side won the penalty shootout 3-1 against Brazil's Fluminense at the Maracana after an enthralling 5-5 aggregate draw.
Cevallos, slow to react for two of Fluminense's goals in their 3-1 second leg win and looking shaky throughout the game, distracted his opponents with his knee-wobbling antics and by praying in the back of the net before each kick.
Cevallos, who played in the 2002 Ecuador team and also kept goal for Barcelona in 1998 on the last occasion a club from the country reached the Libertadores final, had been doubtful beforehand because of a thigh injury.
Founded in 1930, LDU, full name Liga Deportiva Universitaria and also known as Liga de Quito, have dominated Ecuadorean football recently and form the backbone of the national side.
Their Casa Blanca stadium, opened in 1997, is one of the most modern in South America.
"So many years waiting for this ... Liga (LDU) is the new idol," 21-year-old student Javier Andrade said as he joined thousands more to celebrate and welcome home the team.
Winning the Libertadores Cup usually means a team will be sold off within weeks as the players are snapped up by foreign clubs, resulting in another rebuilding process.
Forward Joffre Guerron, who tormented defences with his speed and trickery on the flanks, has already been sold to Spanish club Getafe. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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