Photo by ISIphotos.com
By RYAN TOLMICH
Less than three weeks after being eliminated from the 2014 World Cup, the U.S. Men’s National Team is already looking forward to scheduling for the future.
The U.S. is reportedly in talks to host fellow World Cup participant Ecuador in a friendly match in October, but an official date and city are still yet to be named, according to the Ecuadorian FA’s official website.
A post on its website states that Ecuador is scheduling U.S.-based friendly matches in September against either Chile or Bolivia on Sept. 5 and Brazil on Sept. 9 in New York, as well as a pair of friendlies against Colombia and the U.S. in October.
U.S. Soccer has not released an official comment on the report.
A match with Ecuador would be the third proposed U.S. friendly this fall, with a date against the Czech Republic in September and a reported but not confirmed match against the Republic of Ireland in November already lined up.
Ecuador, which was eliminated during the group stage in Brazil, is currently No. 21 in FIFA’s latest world rankings, and features international stars such as Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia, West Ham United’s new signing Enner Valencia, and Morelia winger Jefferson Montero.
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What do you think about this report? How do you feel about the proposed game? Do you believe Ecuador is a good opponent for the post-World Cup USMNT squad to face?
Share your thoughts below.
According to the NFL schedule they purposefully put an open date in October for Metlife Stadium to prepare to host a soccer friendly. Maybe this could be the USA v. Ecuador match, but I also highly doubt it as Ecuador plays a month earlier v. Brasil at Metlife Stadium
Is it just me or is this competition a tad bit light? Are we entering the next cycle getting the youngsters’ feet wet or is our goal to learn how to dictate the game with higher-level opponents? Or, dare I say, both?
Why are we scheduling teams that got knocked out at the group stage or didn’t qualify? Don’t we want to compete against the next level?
Availability, mostly.
Not necessarily. One of the best ways to introduce new young players is to have them play against lesser competition to get their feet wet. Back when Bob Bradley started Michael Bradley (along with Feilhaber) got his start against China of all teams (super minnows) and at the time, MB was a little nervous and tentative (I was at the game) but it helped build his confidence moving forward and into the gold cup when opposition got a little tougher, but not a lot.
Yeah djai basically hit it. The next 6-12 months will not offer much that would excite a neutral. It will take the edge off of your WC jones but that’s all you should expect. Most all int’l teams (not just the USMNT) tend to use the year following a WC to flush and re-load the talent pool (and in some cases install a new coach). No sense in playing a top team when you don’t regard the one you have put out there yourself as a finished or near-finished product. You’ll learn more if the guys have some more time on the ball to get comfortable and develop understandng, without too much fear of getting blown out.
any game against a south american country would help prepare us.
Would love to see USA, play Chile and Columbia in south America.
didn’t realize Columbia had a team…
Yup….DC United
Well played
I don’t know the international dates etc… but is there a chance any of our friendlies will be 2 games during one break or will we see nothing but onesies here and there??
Anyone know?
The fall fixtures are all ~8 days long. Most European and African teams have already booked 2x per openning for euro/african cup of nations qualifying
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/calendar/events.html
Sept 1-9, October 6-14, Nov 10-18
Gotcha, Thnx. Hopefully we will get to see a double in there
Id like 2 C USA play Chile.
Fall schedule so far:
Sept – @Czech, @TBA – pretty much every European/African team is booked idk what they have planned
October – vs Ecuador, vs Japan?
November – vs TBA, vs Rep of Ireland