The U.S. men’s national team didn’t walk away with a victory on Friday night, but they did deliver one of the better overall performances of 2025.

Mauricio Pochettino’s squad rallied in the second half to tie South American visitors Ecuador 1-1 at Q2 Stadium. The Americans out-possessed, out-shot, and out-passed Ecuador over the 90+ minutes, creating the better of the offensive chances, while also limiting Sebastián Beccacece’s squad to only 33% possession and four shots on target.

Although Pochettino would’ve liked a victory to kick off the October window, he was pleased with his squad’s fight against the second-place finishers in CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying.

“We were so brave in trying to go forward, try to find the space,” Pochettino said to reporters postmatch. “Ecuador is a very physical team. Chasing people at the same time, with the possibility and the calm to play, I think we were capable to find the gaps and challenge [them].

“I think we improved in the second half. I think we dominate the game in all the aspects,” he added.

Leading the way in Friday’s match was Monaco striker Folarin Balogun. Despite a quiet start to his club campaign, Balogun found the back of the net on Friday, giving him back-to-back matches with a goal to his name.

Balogun also came close to breaking the deadlock early in the first half, but was denied by Ecuadoran goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez. However, he didn’t make the same mistake twice in the 71st minute, one-timing Malik Tillman’s assist off of the right post and in.

“So happy,” Pochettino said when asked about Balogun’s performance. “Always a striker needs to feel the net, and his work ethic is amazing in the way that he always is available in every single aspect of the game, with and without ball. I am so pleased about his performance.”

Two players who could not make an impact in Friday’s match were Fulham left back Antonee Robinson and Club America winger Alex Zendejas. Both players were included in Pochettino’s squad, but did not dress in the squad after dealing with respective issues.

Robinson remains part of the plans to feature in Tuesday’s friendly vs. Australia in Commerce City, Colorado but Zendejas will be departing camp after suffering a knee injury in midweek training.

“Zendejas, bad news, because he is leaving tonight … because he has a small issue in his knee, back of his knee,” Pochettino said. “It’s not a big issue, but he’s not going to be available for the next game, and he needs to come back to his club.”

“Antonee, we need to assess,” Pochettino added. “Today, [he] wasn’t available. We’ll see tomorrow if he can train. We will communicate, but today, he wasn’t available.”

Christian Pulisic, Haji Wright, and Mark McKenzie were among the second-half substitutions in Friday’s match and all three could be among the potential changes made by Pochettino ahead of Tuesday’s showdown with the No. 25-ranked Socceroos.