By Alonso Soto

QUITO, Ecuador, June 20 (Reuters) Ecuador's qualification to the World Cup's second round is just the remedy for the small Andean nation weary of decades of political instability.

When Ecuador won its opening game earlier this month thousands of stunned fans poured into the streets, hugged, kissed each other and talked about unity in a country fractured by ethnicity, poverty and turmoil.

''This is what Ecuadoreans need,'' said 34-year-old Luis Vicente wearing the team's yellow jersey and celebrating on the street after Ecuador defeated Poland 2-0 on its World Cup opening game. ''We all need to be united.'' Ecuadoreans have seen three presidents fall in turmoil in less than 10 years and often cope with damaging protests and strikes by local governments, students, oil workers and indigenous groups who are at odds with the government.

Street protests and blockades by Indian leaders opposed to U.S. free trade talks earlier this year battered the economy just a few weeks after an oil workers strike cut into Ecuador's vital petroleum production.

''After war, soccer is the only thing that has been able to unite us all,'' said Paulina Recalde, a pollster with Perfiles de Opinion in Quito. ''In a multi-ethnic and multicultural country plagued by poverty the national team has come to the rescue of our national identity.'' The World Cup message seems clear for almost everyone, from politicians to middle class city dwellers and poor Indian farmers: If our team can win, why can't our country lift itself from poverty and conflict? President Alfredo Palacio, a 67-year-old doctor who assumed his post after his predecessor was toppled by popular uprising last year, said the performance ''is an enormous achievement that unites Ecuadoreans and gives us the self-confidence we lacked before.'' Palacio has been embroiled in a battle with Congress since the start of his rule in April of 2005 and is often pressured by social groups who demand more state funds to solve local problems.

Political analysts warned, however, the new-found sense of unity brought by soccer victories is unlikely to last beyond the month-long World Cup tournament.

Ecuadoreans go to the ballot for presidential elections in October with more than 71 percent of voters still undecided, according to a recent poll. Free trade talks with Washington are also in limbo after the government took over the assets of a US oil firm over a legal dispute.

REUTERS PDS BST0517