USMNT 1-1 Ecuador Friendly: The Deuce Live 10/10/25

0:00You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, Suboptimal Radio.

0:15Soccer's coming home eventually tonight the United States are back like Landon Donovan's hair a 1-1 win against Ecuador population 18 million roughly same size as New York State a goal from Ena Valencia that'd be Everton legend Ena Valencia matched by one for that great American, Flo Balogun, best player on the field tonight by some distance. And that's how it ended, a 1-1 win. As T. Cork in our Discord said, when it comes to Ecuador, you should genuinely expect things to be split right down the middle. 244 days until the World Cup. Poch in Texas, clear eyes, full hearts, can draw. And to break it down, oh my Lord, I'm so glad I'm not here alone like a ray of light on a dark day.

1:07It's an honor, a delight to welcome back for this live taping of The Deuce. It's the human wonder, the poet of passing, the wonder of words, the bass assassin, a man who I always want to listen to on Night Sight tonight. Welcome back, Mr. Clint Dempsey. What's up, Raj? How you doing? Somebody told me what the school were going to be right before kickoff, Clint. Had a hit with the Jordan hands, you know what I'm saying? You asked me about a score prediction. I said 1-1. I mean, Ecuador is a team that doesn't concede a lot of goals. Knew it was going to be a tight matchup. But yeah, credit to the U.S.

1:42Showing character coming back from 1-0 down. It looked like they were going to get a second in the second half. But yeah, I thought 1-1 was a fair result tonight. Clint Stradamus. Never doubt the man. By the way, 1-1. Better than the Ryder Cup, but only just. And people, we are not here alone. It's late. We just watched a game that it was, there was some pusses, there was some minor, it was work. Come and cheer us up because the juice line with Clint Dempsey means you, dear GFOPs, can be part of the show. Come and have your say on tonight's game. Come and ask Clint a question about the game, about the US, about the World Cup, about the fishing.

2:24Here's how. Just scan the QR code in the top left of your screen, take you into a Zoom with our producer Tony, a beautiful human being, who will get you up to ask the question, come on, be with us, it's audio only, slap your comments into the chat, we'll read the best ones out, remember, subscribe, like, all that stuff, just come and be with us, get active, because we need you, and in the chat, the mood is, well, the mood I'd say is, well, it could be worse, this is where we are now, William Roberts says, we finally look like a team, We should have got a win. That's very interesting. Drogba Forever says, much better performance tonight.

3:04Correct to Mondo. Cattenwell says, could have been worse. I mean, this is where we are. Could have been worse. We'll take it. But Clint, let's talk about the game. Because before kickoff, against the only nation, did you know it's Ecuador, is the only nation in the world named after a geographic feature? Obviously, the equator. No, I didn't know that. We should have more nations. I'm going to petition that, that we should be named like that. But the team had just locked up second place in Combo qualifying. They've beaten Argentina in the last game up. They've not lost a game since 6th September 2024.

3:39A proper opponent, depleted, yes, as we were. They had no Moises Caicedo, the Chelsea fist. I mean, they were a lesser team, but they were competing for World Cup places. and then news came out with the US team sheet there would be no start from Christian Pulisic. A gent in a club form of his life out or on the bench have reported ankle swelling. Clint, you played in US games when at last big players were injured and you'd have to go without them. What would the loss of Pulisic have been like for this team? How would have it impacted the teammates mentally? Well, I mean, it depends on the situation of when they knew that it was going to happen in terms of him not playing in the game, right?

4:26Like what was going on during training? Did it look like they had at least a day or two to kind of prepare without him? But it's always next man up mentality. It's an opportunity for people to step up and kind of earn their spot in the team as we build towards this World Cup. What better goal to try to accomplish and represent your country in a World Cup on home soil? But I thought some players stepped up tonight. Balligan was dangerous the whole time. Tillman, I like the way that he plays. It was kind of insperced, but he's definitely a player I enjoy watching. Tessman, I thought he was solid throughout the game as well.

5:04I'm curious to see that battle for that number nine position as you have Ajiman and Hygie Wright nipping at the hills of Baligan and getting our best players on the field at one time. Like you said, having Christian in there, having Tyler Adams in there, who I think has just had a kid. Congratulations to him. having Anthony Robinson in there, having Sergino Dest in there, seeing what our full lineup looks like. But I am excited about the level of competition we got to play against tonight in Ecuador. I'd like – they had still some exciting players to watch. And what a goal from Valencia. Form is temporary, class is permanent, 35 years old.

5:40That's so he says. Yeah, man, what a goal. That's so he says. That's so he says. I mean, he's kind of like 35 like Freddie Adu was 16. I think it's funny, one of the only footballers still playing who remembers when Tim Ream was just a decade into his career. That's how old he is. But I do want to say, you're right. I tried to approach this game tonight with a sense of radical positivity, like to really try and enjoy it. And to do that, I've got to be honest, Clint, I had to tap into the memories I used to have watching this team in the 2014 cycle. You know, I tried to come with just a sense of everything's possible here because this was a real test.

6:22Ecuador were depleted, yes. Sean are their best players. Hink happy too of Arsenal out. But the players stepping up knew they had a World Cup journey ahead. They would have wanted the challenge. They played deeply cohesive football throughout qualifying. We would have had to be on our best to even take the field with them on equal footy. I was excited to see Aidan Morris. I was excited to see Tanner Tessman. I thought this was going to be a massive night. We'll talk about Western McKinney in a minute. But from the off, Ecuador pushed us back. Alcivar somehow stubbed an open chance wide off a corner in the early seconds of the game.

7:00But when the US broke the press, it was through Tillman and Balogun in the early exchanges. They did look lively. Balogun we'll talk a lot about in a second. You say you love Tillman. Who does he remind you of? He does seem to be, in moments, a truly polished footballer. I mean, I just think he's a complete player. How he can slow the game down, how his vision that he has. He doesn't ever kind of look like he's panicked at all. He always looks like he's in control. I mean, even on the assist, right? Like, you're thinking, oh, he's going to have a shot. And then just being able to see Bolligan out of the corner of his eye and play it into him.

7:38you know and he's one of those players where sometimes you think he's not having the best game and then you'll see like these little moments of brilliance and I think that's why he's out on the field because it's the most difficult thing to do in the game is to create and he he has that ability and I just like to see him continue to grow with this national team like what we saw during the gold cup and I see him being a starter for us in the world cup you see Tillman being a I mean, he does have that. When he's in his highs, he has an elite ability to unlock back lines that other than Pulisic, we really, really crave.

8:13No, I agree with that. And then the more creative players that you have on the field, the more problems you're going to cause. I mean, to see Bolligan, Christian, Tillman in that attack, it definitely looks dangerous. You have way of playing outside, running up the flanks as a wing role. I just think there's a lot of positives that we can take from a game like tonight. Get a little bit more depth. We talked about Tessman. Thought he showed well in midfield. And you see that more competition for spots between Tyler Adams, McKinney, Tessman, Tillman. It starts to look like more of a full team. W.S.

8:52Douglas 85. One of my favorite W.S. Douglases of all of the 85 at W.S. Douglas. It says Tillman is smooth and skill-so. You make him sound like Marvin Gaye, W.S. Douglas. I actually thought this was a big night tonight. I'm interested to hear what you think for Weston McKinney. Back for the first time since March, a Texan in Texas, undoubtedly been in Pochettino's doghouse. You know, Poch doesn't seem to quite trust him to fit into the hard grind. that all-in, always-on culture that he expects and demands on the field and in training. It's incredibly been seven long months since McKinney was last in the U.S.

9:33national team camp. In the early exchanges, I've got to say, I was impressed by his hustle to get us through the press with some flicks and tricks. What did you make of his performance? Yeah, I mean, I think there was some moments there. I wouldn't say it was his best night. There was also some quiet moments. but at the same time, I think he's a player that will continue to fight for his spot when his back's against the wall. Like it's been numerous times at Juve, he rises to the top. So I want to see more from him in this next game. Maybe he's someone who's box to box. He seems to get on the end of things, dangerous on set pieces.

10:14So I just want to see him being more of a scoring threat or providing some of that service to create goals. But, I mean, I would say, you know, did pretty good. But, you know, I think there's better from him still to show. Dude is like a thrill seeker. He likes to go right to the edge of the cliff before he repels all comers. But the U.S., I mean, it was symbol of it. We felt confident. We wanted to assert ourselves. Almost we dropped our guard. And the Ecuadorian squad is just too canny, too experienced. You cannot do that. U.S. had so many players committed forward. your boa slapped out an angle pass that just seemed to bisect the whole entire u.s midfield aiden morris left exposed and who was on it old man enna valencia just pounced exploded really into a one-on-one with chris richards and i've got to say he just cooked him seemed to have taken it too wide somehow rolled it on the angle pass the possibly leaning slightly matt freeze um it It was an astonishing moment, Clint.

11:17I mean, Enna Valencia, dude is 35. But he's old, man. He's an old 35. He really is. He's incredibly scored the last five goals Ecuador have netted. 48th international goal and his 131st cap. Incredible record. It really was just like a, it was a sucker punch. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think the most important thing of the goal was his first touch that he took with his left foot to go across Chris Richards. And, you know, he wasn't maybe going to beat him with his speed, but then by taking that touch, it kind of put him off balance, and then he was able to kind of change up how he was running to give himself a little space.

11:58And he did really well. Even though it looked like he took himself a little too wide, he did really well to get power and hit it hard and low to the corner, maybe freeze a little off of his line. But it's the reason why that guy has 48 goals and someone who steps up on big occasions, is what we've seen them do in the past in the World Cup. Ecuadorian, Clint Dempsey. I mean, the huge number of Ecuadorian fans in that stadium. I did Google a lot about Texan demographics. I had no idea, I will admit. It's one of the wonders of this country. Just the enormous tapestry of fans in state to state. This stadium was yellow tonight.

12:37They went wild. Not full enough again, the stadium. and the US felt like they were up against it. Ecuador had kept 10 clean sheets in their 18 qualifiers. God bless Chris Richards. Stunned on that first goal, almost got us back into it. Off the corner, pushed by the keeper, immediately off the post, not his night. Part of the problem seemed to be that Aidan Morris, first US cap since October, Tanner Tessman back for the first time, I think, was it since March. in that middle of the park, in this formation, we're just outnumbered, couldn't repel the Ecuadorian break. But we had Balogun, who just seemed, in this moment, his confidence on the way, he's like, sod it, just feed me.

13:24I have the hot hand. He seemed almost fearless. I mean, it was a real spark to watch him, his mentality, his play, his willingness to try and enforce his will as a one-man army. It was remarkable to witness. Yeah, I mean, I just feel like he's always dangerous when he gets the ball, especially when he gets behind the back line, whether he's going to take somebody off and create a chance for himself but also create a chance for others. There was a chance that he created for Aiden Morris that looked like it was a deflection off of Uwea. And I thought the Ecuadorian keeper tonight, I thought he made some big saves for them.

13:59So there's a reason why they have those clean sheets that you were talking about. But, yeah, I mean, I've always been a big fan of Bolligan. He can score with both feet. He can stretch the back lines. He can get all the end of things, create for other people. So I think it's his spot to take. And tonight he showed again why I think he's our number nine. Yeah, well, yeah, Ballaghan, that's a big statement. Our number nine showed it tonight. I am a fan of Hadjie Man rather than Hadjie Man. I do love Hadjie Wright and I'd like to see a lot more of him. But what was it that we missed in that first half?

14:35We had 66 % possession, but the final, you know, obviously other than missing Pulisic, spent a lot of time running up the flanks into the final third, and the final ball was often poor. Yeah, I mean, I think there was a little bit of that missing, which sometimes happened. I thought the keeper made some big saves as well. Hernán Galindas. Yeah, I mean, like you talked about, goals is what gets you back into games and kind of can change the momentum back in your favor. and you saw that in the second half. I thought we did a better job in the second half of how we pressed them and made them be uncomfortable, which led to our first goal that we were able to get off of Tessman feeding Tillman, who then didn't panic.

15:16We talked about being comfortable in those situations and got his head up, found Bolligan with the left-footed finish, and we're right back in it looking like we're going to get another one and win this game and everybody go home happy again about what we can build upon. But the one thing I have as a fan is I was excited, again, and I felt like we were always going to get that goal or get back in the game, which is what you want as a fan. You want to believe that your team is just going to take one little moment to do something special. And I feel like we're starting to get that again with the players that we have in this team.

15:50They're starting to look dangerous. You do? Yeah. That's so nice. I do, man. Think about it. Think about it. You got Baligan, Christian, Tillman, you know what I'm saying, operating and firing on all cylinders. that's going to cause problems. You got Des, Anthony Robinson up the wings, you know. Yeah, to me, those are the guys that we missed tonight. I do want to state that playing without our first-choice fullbacks or the people we think are our first-choice fullbacks, if we're playing fullbacks and we're now in a wingback reality, we will see. But, I mean, Anthony Robinson, fully fit Anthony Robinson, is a human can opener for this team.

16:32you know Seginho Dest is is a joy going forward a question mark going back we lack both of those guys tonight Zendejas seemed in the last window to be one of the stars there we did not have him tonight obviously Tyler Adams who in this midfield where the two in the middle has so much to cover I mean Aidan Morris I was excited to see him tonight I felt like we could see more from him Tessman dropped in and out of the game for me in this system the middle of the park is so crucial I think we did seem to lose our way at times to lack conviction in that middle of the park it took 70 minutes for us to muster a single shot in that second half but within seconds you mentioned the goal, let's talk about it a moment of true immense quality, it was Tessman slipped in Tillman who ran to the corner of the six yard box with real guile real craft, real clinic, a moment of clinicality.

17:31That's what this was. And it came from Tillman. This is what I felt like we lacked tonight. We can have the possession. We can have the territorial advantage. Can we use it? The pass from Tillman was stunning. But also Balogun, when you watch this goal again, he got to it first, still had so much work to do physically. So watching Adja Wilson, just strongly dominant, holding the defender off. First goal, by the way, Ecuador conceded in 520 minutes of football. It was a fine moment, Clint. What did you see? Balogun, don't lie. Yeah, I mean, like we talked about, we started doing a better job of pressing in the second half.

18:12It looked like they were fighting to get back in this game. It looked like it was a matter of time before it was going to come. And then just the great pass from Testman to Tillman. He could have had the shot. He ended up getting his head up and then finding Bolligan. And that wasn't an easy finish. You know, finishing with your left foot and it almost spun the other way off of his foot to curve off the post and go in. Maybe a little lucky there. But I just think having the ability to be in the right places at the right time, good things will happen. And I think that from then on, it looked like we were going to get that second.

18:48It just didn't come. But I'm excited about seeing those guys do some more damage together as we move forward into this next friendly. I've got to say, Ecuador came to life a little bit after our goal. Credit Matt Fries, who was really focused when called upon. Pulisic trotted on, did not have enough time to really make an impact. I'd love to know more about his injury. He's going to be on our show on Monday. A really lovely interview with Christian Pulisic. I mean Christian Pulisic in his prime of his club career it's really fascinating to hear listen to that man talk about how he wants the ball how he feels free on the field how to get the best out of him and then kind of compute back from his club form to what we need with a US jersey if we can crack that I think lots is possible I mean it was a lot on the broadcast praising our attitude, praising our mentality I thought we were solid I mean, you are a bullion compared to me and always at all times.

19:49You're the most positive man in football. For me, I mean, sum it up, the result was good. I felt at times with all of that ball, all of that possession, all of that territorial advantage, Clint, in key moments, we still lack, I guess the word's conviction. Yeah, I would say it was good, but it's not great. I think it's important in this game that you don't get too high or get too low, right? You always, you know, you're searching for more if you do well, and if things don't go that great, it's not the end of the world, right? So I think there's still a lot of positives that we can take. You can see this team starting to form in terms of having more depth and more competition for spots, which is what you want to see.

20:36It's what's going to make this team better and want to see how they're going to be when they get, you know, everybody fit to see what that best 11 is going to be. But I'm excited about how that's going to shape out and how people deal with that battling for spots. Because who's going to be the two in the midfield if we decided to, or the three in the midfield, go with the 5-3-2? You know what I'm saying? Is that Tillman, McKinney, and Adams? Or, you know, is Zendejas or Testman? Or, you know, who are these people that are nipping at those hills to kind of get in there? And then, you know, up top, you have Christian and Balligan.

21:11I mean, that's going to cause a lot of problems. And you got Haji Wright and Haji Man hungry want to come in and make something happen. And what I like to see is from Haji Wright on that one, he was a little selfish. He could have played Christian, but I like the fact that he was like, you know what? I need to create this. I'm believing in myself. I'm on a good run of form. He gets it onto his dominant leg. And he doesn't have the finish that you want to see. But I like the fact that he was a little bit greedy. And I think you need that from your strikers. Yeah, I did love in our Discord on Off84 said, As a Liverpool fan, I thought there was meant to be seven minutes of extra time required during which a winner will be decided.

21:50And what is it with this three minutes crap? Welcome to CONCACAF, baby. And if you're not in our Discord, people, come join the Men in Blazers Discord during these games. I genuinely love watching with all of you. It's a safe space to enjoy the games in conversation. We'll pop the link in the chat right now. Come and subscribe. you know I thought it was solid I don't want to get carried away we've got two gears we're like we're terrible or we're just you know winning the World Cup we are somewhere in between and I want you to tell us where we are right now tonight we did miss mostly Pulisic we missed Tyler Adams felt at times a little joyless you know I will say the thing that disturbed me tonight I think you can hear my dog Martin Scorsese in the background getting a little bit excited.

22:39But the lack of noise around this team, we are 244 days out from the World Cup. There was a WNBA final that was blowing up on Twitter. There's the baseball playoffs, which are risen from the dead. I follow pretty well everybody in football. And by the way, Marty loves Ricardo Pepe. That's who he's shouting for tonight. But I follow everyone in football. Tonight, the noise on Twitter was about the Argentina game going on at the same time in Florida. what pains me about all of this and you saw this with the US fan turnout in Austin tonight we've become almost a footnote in a footballing way, we need to earn that back, we can earn that back we have the talent, I think a draw against Ecuador, Charles Darwin's second favourite team, Ecuador by the way, a bloody good football team we need to shout them out, they've invested in youth development, they've invested in the domestic league, their best players are soaring in Europe great coaching, real coherent identity.

23:39I look forward to watching them soar in the World Cup. I really, really do. I think it's going to be utterly, utterly magic. But can you sum it up? 244 days into the World Cup, Clint, where are we in the process of readiness? Because last cycle, we had real games. We were qualifying, so there was no safety net. Where are we right now in your mind? I mean, I think we're still in a little bit of a building process, but I'm starting to see what's being built. As before, I was kind of like more skeptical because I really wasn't believing in the direction that things were looking like they were going.

24:18And then now I'm kind of starting to see like the depth that we have and the danger that we can create and the confidence that our players are getting from their club ball and now bringing it to the national team. So I want to see that continue to develop and see more games with our best lineups in our best players being picked for these international friendlies and seeing who steps up and takes this opportunity with both hands. But I'm starting to feel more optimistic, man. I'm starting to see this team look more dangerous. And for me, a big thing is what I see in the attack. And I feel like that's moving in the right direction.

25:14I'm starting to believe in what he's doing and the players that he's bringing in. Where sometimes you're trying to understand why certain players weren't brought in and why certain players were. And like if it wasn't for a player being injured in the last camp, we wouldn't even assault Baligan in the last camp. So certain things like that. And now you're starting to see the depth that this team has, like we talked about in an attack in the midfield. We're still trying to figure out in the back who's going to be our best center backs and who's going to be the the the the main keeper for this team.

25:49But I'm starting to believe in this team and starting to see him work with his best players. Because in CONCACAF Nations League, some of the best players, most of the best players were there and we didn't get it done. Now you're seeing the best players start to get back and you're having a little bit more time to kind of work with them. More games under your belt and see how we do against better competition. And I like the fact that we played a team like Ecuador and can kind of challenge yourself. Even though they were missing, you know, three or four of their top players, we still were missing a few as well.

26:22But you need these type of games. Okay, it is time to go to your questions. A reminder of how this works here on YouTube Live. Just scan the QR code in the top left of your screen or click the pinned comment in the chat. I'll take you into a Zoom with producer Tony who can tell you everything else you need to know. We will bring you up. there are so many great callers come be with us let's start with Drew tell us where you're from come on unmute and tell us what your question is for the mighty Clint Dempsey Hey Raj well I'm in Austin, Texas and I first have a bone to pick with you I was in the stadium it was not Ecuador dominance it was probably 70, 30, 60, 40 US just a TV shot the Ecuadorian fans happened to sit on that side of the stadium And they were loud, but I think we were louder.

27:17There you go. You know what, Drew? You're wrong. In life in general, I always go with what you think. And by the way, respect to the Ecuadorian fans for being so TV savvy because they dominated that front row in every regard. Quick note before you question, Potch speaking to the media right now is speaking up about Flo Balogun. He says his work ethic is amazing with her about the ball. I'm so pleased with his performance. But Drew, you're up with us, baby. Tell us what your question is for Mighty Clint. Clint, what is it going to take to get a little more cohesion in the final third? You know, I think Haji had a chance he gave off and it went away.