QUITO, Ecuador -- Ecuador coach Reinaldo Rueda named three young Europe-based players in his 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup on Wednesday. Midfielders Carlos Gruezo and Renato Ibarra, and defender Christian Ramirez have all made the initial cut. Gruezo plays for Stuttgart, Ramirez is with Fortuna Duesseldorf and Ibarra is with Dutch club Vitesse. "We are living a dream," Ramirez said. Ecuador, which is training in the Netherlands ahead of a friendly against the Dutch side on Saturday, is expected to name its final 23-man squad on May 23. The South American team will be playing in its third World Cup. That achievement was overshadowed by the death of striker Christian Benitez midway through qualifying, and filling the void he left will be the teams biggest challenge in Brazil. The 27-year-old Benitez died of heart failure in Qatar on July 29, only three weeks after joining local team El Jaish. He was Ecuadors star forward with 24 goals in 58 appearances. Benitez was a contender for the "best young player" award at the World Cup in 2006 when Ecuador reached the round of 16, its best-ever World Cup performance. Without him, Ecuador will rely on Pachuca forward Enner Valencia. Ecuador will face Switzerland, France and Honduras in Group E. The team opens against Switzerland on June 15 in Brasilia and is a clear contender in the wide-open group. ------ Squad: Goalkeepers: Alexander Dominguez (Liga de Quito), Maximo Banguera (Barcelona, Ecuador), Adrian Bone (El Nacional) Defenders: Jorge Guagua (Emelec), Gabriel Achilier (Emelec), Oscar Bagui (Emelec), Juan Carlos Paredes (Barcelona, Ecuador), Frickson Erazo (Flamengo), Walter Ayovi (Pachuca), Christian Ramirez (Fortuna), John Narvaez (Emelec) Midfielders: Pedro Quinonez (Emelec), Luis Fernando Saritama (Barcelona, Ecuador), Carlos Gruezo (Stuttgart), Antonio Valencia (Manchester United), Segundo Castillo (Al-Hilal), Christian Noboa (Dynamo Moscow), Renato Ibarra (Vitesse), Edison Mendez (Santa Fe), Oswaldo Minda (Barcelona, Ecuador), Michael Arroyo (Atlante), Fidel Martinez (Tijuana) Forwards: Armando Wila (Universidad Catolica), Jefferson Montero (Morelia), Jaime Ayovi (Tijuana), Enner Valencia (Pachuca), Joao Rojas (Cruz Azul), Felipe Caicedo (Al-Jazira), Cristian Penilla (Barcelona, Ecuador), Angel Mena (Emelec) Patrick Willis Jersey . Brassard and Coyotes defenceman Derek Morris were battling for position in the crease when a nudge from Morris sent Brassard on top of Smith late in the third period. Ronnie Lott Jersey . -- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft wanted to keep Logan Mankins with the team for a long time. http://www.authenticsf49erspro.com/Customized/.C. -- The Edmonton Oilers used a late-power-play goal to get a hard-fought road victory. Tom Rathman Jersey . On Tuesday, the star questioned whether that was still the case. Speaking to reporters at a charity event, Johnson said: "I just kind of wonder sometimes: Is this still the place for me?" Johnsons comments came after he was asked why he recently skipped a voluntary minicamp. Steve Young Jersey . Under the deal, the Vikings will donate an undisclosed sum of money to five gay rights-related charities over the next five years. Kluwe said he wont receive any money as part of the settlement. "This will help a lot of people that really do need that help," Kluwe said.SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Top-seeded Tommy Haas came back to defeat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to advance to the Brazil Open semifinals on Friday. Haas broke Zeballos serve twice in a row in the decisive set to close the match and take a step closer to his second final of the year. The 12th-ranked German lost to Marin Cilic in the final in Croatia earlier this month. Haas will next play Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, who reached his first ATP semifinal with an upset 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina. "Lorenzi has been around for a long time so this is a goal Im sure he has been waiting to achieve for a lifetime," Haas said. "He has nothing to lose and is going to try to go one more and get to his first ATP tour final. He is a dangerous player. Im going to have to try to play some of my best tennis." The 114th-ranked Lorenzi broke Monacos serve to go up 4-3 in the final set and held on to close the match in 2 hours, 34 minutes at the Ibirapuera Arena. The 32-year-old Italian squandered a match point before losing the second set, but was in control in the third to pick up the win in the ATP 250 tournament in South Ammericas biggest city.dddddddddddd Lorenzi served 12 aces en route to his first pro semifinal after five career quarterfinal losses. "Im very happy to finally breakthrough to the semifinals," Lorenzi said. "Ive had a lot of opportunities before but was never able to come up with the victory at this stage. For sure this is one of my greatest weeks on the tour." The 43rd-ranked Monaco was trying to win his 200th clay-court match. He is the fifth-highest winner on the surface, behind Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Nicolas Almagro. Monaco had a set point in the first set but couldnt capitalize on it. "It was a very close match, he had his chances in the first set and I had mine in the second, it was very difficult," Lorenzi said. In another quarterfinal Friday, Federico Delbonis of Argentina easily beat Alberto Montanes of Spain 6-4, 6-3 in just over an hour. He will play either home-crowd favourite Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil or Martin Klizan of Slovakia. Defending champion Rafael Nadal is not playing at the clay-court tournament this year. He chose to play at the first edition of the Rio Open, which he won last week. 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