Key keywords: Sebastián Beccacece, Ecuador men's national football team, Chile men's national football team, 2026 FIFA World Cup CONMEBOL qualifiers, Ecuador football supporters, South American football meme, CONMEBOL coaching news, Beccacece to Chile viral trend First emerging on Ecuadorian fan forums and X (formerly Twitter) in late May 2024, the viral phrase "Por favor, llévense a Beccacece a Chile" (translated: "Please take Beccacece to Chile") has exploded into one of the most widely shared football memes across South America this year, reflecting growing frustration among Ecuador supporters over their national team’s underperformance in the ongoing 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. Argentine manager Sebastián Beccacece was appointed as head coach of the Ecuador national team in August 2023, with high expectations from fans and federation officials alike after his successful stints leading top Argentine clubs including Defensa y Justicia and Racing Club, where he earned a reputation for attacking, possession-focused football. However, his tenure with La Tri has been marked by inconsistent results, questionable tactical decisions, and a failure to leverage Ecuador’s deep pool of young talent playing across top European leagues. After 14 matchdays of CONMEBOL’s grueling 18-match qualifying cycle, Ecuador sits in 7th place in the 10-team standings, just one point outside the automatic qualification spots, having suffered humiliating losses to lower-ranked sides including Bolivia and Venezuela in recent months. The meme gained mainstream traction shortly after Ecuador’s 1-1 home draw against last-place Peru in mid-May, when disgruntled fans began posting the phrase across social media, noting that the Chilean national team is currently searching for a permanent head coach after firing their previous manager in March following a string of poor results that left Chile in 9th place in the qualifying table. Fans have shared thousands of edited photos of Beccacece wearing Chile’s red national team kit, created parody recruitment videos addressed to the Chilean Football Federation, and spammed the comments section of both national federations’ social media accounts with the plea. As of late May 2024, the trend has accumulated more than 2.3 million mentions across X, TikTok, and Instagram, with fans from other CONMEBOL nations joining in on the joke. While both federations have declined to comment on the viral trend, multiple local football outlets in Ecuador have reported that the Ecuadorian Football Federation is already conducting an internal review of Beccacece’s performance, with a decision on his future expected before the next round of qualifying matches in June. Many fans see the meme not just as a joke, but as a public pressure campaign to push the federation to make a coaching change before Ecuador’s chance at qualifying for the 2026 World Cup slips away entirely.