The US men’s national team will play friendlies against Ecuador and Australia in the October Fifa international window, the federation announced on Monday. The games will pit the US against two teams that have already sealed their spots in the 2026 World Cup in one of the team’s last gatherings before the start of the tournament next summer.
The US will host Ecuador first on 10 October at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, with kickoff set for 8.30pm ET. This will be the US men’s 16th all-time meeting against Ecuador, with the last meeting coming in 2019. In that match, Gyasi Zardes scored a late winner in a 1-0 victory for the US.
Ecuador has been one of the best teams in South America this World Cup cycle, now sitting second in Conmebol qualifying. The tricolor has not lost a match since 1-0 loss to Brazil in September 2024, winning four and drawing five in that time. Each of Ecuador’s last three games have been 0-0 draws (against Chile, Brazil, and Peru).
Australia will be the United States’ opponent in the second match of the window, due to take place in Commerce City, Colorado at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on 14 October at 9pm ET. The meeting will be the United States’ fourth all-time meeting against the Socceroos, with the previous one coming back in 2010 before that year’s World Cup in South Africa. The US won that game 3-1, with Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez scoring for the Americans, and Tim Cahill scoring for Australia.
The World Cup qualifying campaign has been a tricky one for Australia, but it was rewarded with an automatic bid to the World Cup last month since the appointment of Tony Popovic as head coach. The Socceroos have reeled off five wins and three draws since he was appointed, culminating in last month’s 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia.
The United States will aim use the window to further solidify their squad under head coach Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine brought a mostly second-choice roster to this summer’s Gold Cup, where the Americans beat weaker opposition all the way to the final, where they were outclassed in a 2-1 loss to regional rivals Mexico.
It is thought that Pochettino will use the next two international windows to try to combine the team’s bright spots from the summer like Diego Luna and Malik Tillman with some of the first-choice players who sat out the Gold Cup and pre-tournament friendlies – namely Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Antonee Robinson, Tim Weah and others.
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