RIO DE JANEIRO – Ecuador coach Reinaldo Rueda calls the red card given to midfielder Antonio Valencia "quite unfortunate," but he declined to criticize Ivory Coast referee Noumandiez Doue for Ecuador's ouster from the World Cup after a 0-0 draw Wednesday against France.
Valencia was sent off in the 50th minute on a straight red card after digging his studs into the leg of French defender Lucas Digne.
Rueda also said little about an elbow thrown by French defender Mamadou Sakho in the eighth minute that appeared to land in the face of Oswaldo Minda. He was not sent off.
Rueda called the decisions "water under the bridge" and said others could judge the referee's performance.
Seven other Latin American teams have reached the last 16, and Ecuador was trying to become the eighth.
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