Steven Cortez

Born in Quito, Ecuador, Steven Cortez is a member of Independiente Juniors, Independiente del Valle’s satellite team in the Pro Serie B league. The centre-back was born in August 2004 and had spells in the youth teams of CD Universidad Católica, Deportivo Talleres, and CD Olmedo before landing in Quito. Steven has two caps for the Ecuador national under-20 team.

Steven Cortez has the ideal physical profile for his position on the pitch: he is morphologically ectomorphic, and his stature is tall – his upper and lower limbs are long (this gives him advantages in protecting the ball with his body and in aerial play). As a result of this last point, his travelling speed is good, as his stride is quite wide. Even so, his acceleration isn’t ideal: he takes a bit to get going but eventually catches up with his opponent. His execution speed is outstanding, something that gives him an advantage in attacking moments of the game – he’s quick with the ball on his feet.

Defensively, Steven Cortez has full command of the principles of the game. In defensive organisation, Cortez values the coordination of the entire defensive line and makes a point of organising his teammates through communication, both verbally and in terms of his behaviour – he is always well positioned and adjusts his body posture according to the trajectory of the ball. At the same time, he masters offside traps: he does it at the right time and makes his team-mates follow him. When the game moves into defensive transition, Steven makes a point of continuing to scan his surroundings, which, as a leader and communicator, helps him warn his team-mates about opponents appearing in the blind spaces.

From the point of view of individual defensive duels, the Independiente Juniors player is strong at anticipating opponents – he combines physicality with intelligence in reading the game. When he wins the ball, he endeavours to keep possession and quickly looks for a passing option that will allow his team to keep the ball. When he can’t anticipate, his approach depends on whether or not there is defensive cover. In other words, when there is, he is aggressive and goes after the ball carrier; when there is no defensive cover, he remains contained but can improve at this point to reduce the distance he has from the ball carrier, which at the same time will reduce the opponent’s space for action.

Offensively, Steven Cortez has qualities that allow him to make a difference in the game. Technically advanced, he is always able to receive the ball in an orientated way – he uses his left foot to do so. After that, the time it takes to carry out the next action depends on the opponent’s pressure or whether or not there is a free colleague. If he can pass, he does so. In this scenario, he has weapons for the vertical pass: he can find team-mates in the central corridor behind the pressure lines, or he can exploit breaks from the wingers in the side corridors. If the centre of the play is conditioned, he has an absurd ability to find the full-back or winger on the opposite side with a diagonal ball through the air – very well-measured tension and precision. When he’s not in a position to take the game forward and doesn’t want to lateralise, he’s a player who has mastered the pause to wait for his opponent’s pressure to build. After the jump, he executes according to what the game gives him.

Steven Cortez is an intelligent player. The fact that he’s constantly scanning allows him to think ahead. This can be seen in his actions on the ball, but also in the moments when the team has the ball, but he doesn’t. He’s able to read the spaces where he can appear as a passing option and he does it in exemplary fashion. Also in terms of passing, he shows that he can hide his intention to pass the ball and does it quickly, which goes hand in hand with the fact that he has good speed. In terms of his mental state, he is a player who remains calm at all times during the game. Sometimes he does so excessively, which makes him appear sloppy in some situations – something he can and must correct. Even so, this doesn’t lower his competitive attitude.

For the future, I think Steven Cortez’s focus should be on reaching the first team of Independiente del Valle and I believe he has the potential to do so – even if the competition is strong. If he performs well in Ecuadorian and South American competitions, I believe he could reach a team in the top half of the table in a country like Belgium – following in the footsteps of his countryman Joel Ordóñez. After 29 games for Independiente Juniors, and with South American competitions over, we’ll see if Steven Cortez is considered for the Quito first team.