MEETING THEIR HEROES
McKennie injures left ankle in 1-0 win over Ecuador
Fans cheer before the start of the U.S. men’s soccer friendly against Ecuador Thursday night at Orlando City Stadium. The match drew an announced crowd of 17,000 on hand to watch some of America’s brightest young soccer stars. It was the first U.S. camp of new coach Gregg Berhalter’s tenure that featured young playmakers Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic, who are all just 20 years old and playing for leagues outside of the United States. U.S. veteran DeAndre Yedlin, who has competed in 57 matches for the national team, had high praise for the young stars. “I always say that this group of players and a couple of the younger guys, this could be a golden generation for the U.S, I think,” said Yedlin. Gyasi Zardes scored late in the game, giving USMNT the winning goal.
It was the first time the promising young trio of Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams all started a match for the U.S. men’s national team. For McKennie, it ended in disaster. He was carried back to the locker room on a stretcher after suffering an apparent left ankle injury during the second half of the 1-0 U.S. victory over Ecuador Thursday night in front of an announced crowd of 17,442 at Orlando City Stadium.
While the victory was promising for the Americans, the loss of McKinnie was a big setback. He is considered a key part of the future of the USMNT.
Pulisic was subbed off in the 62nd minute of the match, safely avoiding aggravating injuries that slowed him earlier this year.
After neither side created much in the way of chances throughout the contest — the United States finished the match with just two shots on target while Ecuador didn’t have any — Columbus Crew forward Gyasi Zardes opened the scoring in the 81st minute.
Zardes fired a shot from outside the penalty area. It took a deflection off Ecuadorian defender Robert Arboleda. The ball went high into the air, bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and in, giving the U.S. a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
The play was sparked by Tim Ream, who was wearing the captain’s armband for the first time in his men’s national team career. He intercepted a pass from Ecuadorian defender Garbriel Achiller and played the ball to Zardes.
The United States’ attack didn’t test Ecuador much before that goal. A solid sequence came in the 26th minute, when McKennie played the ball to Pulisic inside the penalty
area and Pulisic got the ball to forward Paul Arriola.
Arriola got a shot off, but it was saved by Ecuador goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez.
Other than that, Ecuador continually managed to turn away the U.S. Ecuador only took one shot in Thursday’s match. It was a decent look at the goal from defender Beder Caicedo in the 33rd minute, but he skied his shot over the crossbar.
New U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said he wanted to use Thursday match as a chance to gather more material to evaluate players, monitoring who grasped the concepts of his possession-based style. The USMNT finished the match with 89 percent passing accuracy and 62 percent possession.
The Americans closed the match with just five shots.
Next, the United States plays Chile in a friendly on Tuesday at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.