U.S. vs. Ecuador 2nd half live blog

Bradley and Beasley (95th CAP but still only 29-years-old) are on to start the second half for the U.S. I wholeheartedly approve of that. Spector and Agudelo are also on. Edu, Shea, Altidore and Cherunodlo all off.

Ecuador wins the first corner of the second half but can't do much with it.

Howard makes an easy stop on Arroyo.

Agudelo wins the U.S.' first corner kick in the second half.

Dempsey almost gets sprung for a good chance but he can't get the shot off.

Beasley's pass gets deflected out for a corner. Dempsey gets blocked in the box. Beasley has brought some energy early in the second half since coming on. He won a free kick right outside of the box. Bradley curls it wide and over.

Dempsey drops back into the box and blocks a shot out for an Ecuador corner. Jefferson Montero shoots wide for Ecuador, their best shot so far. It just skipped wide by a few feet.

First sub for Ecuador, Montero out for Jamie Ayovi.

Beckerman with a terrible giveaway leads to Bocanegra being forced to take down an Ecuador's Benitez, he gets the yellow card he deserves.

Second Ecuador substitution, Christian Suarez on for Antonio Valenica.

Edson Buddle in for Williams. I liked what I saw from Williams in his second appearance for the U.S.

Begging for the U.S. to take some shots and Beasley obliges by hitting one way wide with his right foot. Now I see why he never uses it. Minutes later, he has a better shot with his favored left. Beasley hasn't scored for the U.S in three years.

Last U.S. sub with Tim Ream on for Bocanegra. Thierry Henry was shown at the game with a hooded sweatshirt on and more interested with his phone than the action in front of him.

Chandler with a nice run down the left side, he wins a free kick outside the box. Bradley with a perfect ball in, deflected out by Ecuador for a U.S. corner (sixth of the game). Haha it drops to Onyewu who turns (good) but shoots it about as badly as you'd expect.

Ream gets beaten to a header by Jaime Ayovi (from his brother Walter) who puts it in for Ecuador. He was right on top of Howard so he had not chance to stop it. 1-0 Ecuador in the 79th minute.

Two U.S. corners lead to a nice save on Spector's redirect and a header out of bounds.

Wasteful cross by the U.S. goes over the net. 2 goals in previous 4 games under Klinsmann. John Harkes rightly points out that when Dempsey gets the ball right now, nobody is giving him a target or making a run.

Another Ecuador sub: Paredes on for Arroyo.

Pathetic dive by Ecuador, Onyewu goes up for a 50/50 ball, bumps the other guy and gets a yellow card. Ecuador's player was holding his head (which wasn't touched) even before he hit the ground. Ugh.

Four minutes of stoppage time. The U.S. wins a corner but Bradley hits it too long for Dempsey.

In 2011, the U.S. is 5-6-3 with 13 goals in 14 games. Not so good.

Gooch plays a nice ball to Dempsey, his shot is deflected into the side netting. Gotta be the last U.S. corner. Dempsey crosses it but it's no trouble to Banguera, that should do it.

Final: Ecuador 1, U.S. 0

Klinsmann falls to 1-3-1 but the U.S. played well, especially in the first half. One glaring defensive mistake cost them dearly and they still are really struggling to find a way to score goals. Onyewu and Beasley were pleasant surprises. Ecuador is a good team too, no shame losing to them.

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U.S. vs Ecuador 1st half live blog

It's been four years since the U.S. has beaten a South American country so what better time than to do it against the same team (Ecuador) that they did it last time? This friendly takes place at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ, home of MLS' New York Red Bulls.

U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann (1-2-1) goes for his second straight win after his squad beat Honduras 1-0 on Saturday night in Miami.

Here's your starting 11 for the US:
Tim Howard in goal
Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra and Timmy Chandler in the back
Kyle Beckerman, Danny Williams, Maurice Edu and Brek Shea in the midfield
Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore up top

The U.S. subs tonight include Rimando, Spector, Ream, Bradley, Beasley, Buddle and Agudelo.

Williams makes a nice run and move before getting it to Shea. Long hard shot knocked out for a U.S. corner. Ecuador's goalkeeper punches it out and Beckerman kicks it way wide.

U.S. free kick from outside the box, hit right into the Ecuador wall.

Ecuador's first good chance as Jefferson Montero beats Cherundolo and his shot is tipped wide by Howard.

Classic Gooch: he intercepts a bad through pass and then hits an ever worse ball that's easily picked off by Ecuador. Story of his career.

Dempsey finds Shea on the flank, he takes on a Ecuador defender and wins another corner kick. The U.S. hits a good ball but it's knocked away by a defender. The Ecuador goalkeeper Maximo Banguera (who's wearing a DirectTV HD hat, really) runs into a U.S. shoulder and fakes an injury for a few moments.

Landon Donovan and Stuart Holden get their first mentions of the night. Wish that the U.S. had either of those guys available tonight.

Can someone please cut Brek Shea's hair? He's becoming a good player, he can ditch the JV hairstyle now. It makes him look like a goof.

Ecuador doesn't have Brazil in its World Cup qualifying group, giving them a much better chance to advance to Brazil 2014.

Antonio Valencia is one of Ecuador's top players and also a member of Manchester United. He's a right back.

The U.S. gets some good pressure on a cross into the box but Williams' shot is blocked by a defender.

Ecuador counterattacks and wins their first corner kick.

As expected, tons of Ecuador fans in the NY/NJ area and at the game tonight. Let's be honest though, what else is there to do in Ecuador?

Great passing by the U.S., one touch from Shea, to Dempsey but Edu blows it by hitting it right to Benguera.

Altidore hit Williams with a nice pass but he slipped before he could get into the Ecuador box.

Bocanegra shields an Ecuador attacker and allows Howard to get to a 50/50 ball first.

So Jurgen has Chandler and Williams, any other German players that have shaky connections to the U.S. that we can exploit? Haha, it's for the good of our country.

Altidore gets poked in the eye on the edge of the box but no foul call. Jozy has three goals in eight league matches so far this season with his club team in Holland.

Oh nice, Ernie Stewart works for the team AZ Alkmaar that Altidore currently plays for. Stewart was one of the most underrated U.S. men's players in the 1990s.

Third U.S. corner after Dempsey just mistimes a header.

Dempsey with a volley that goes over, it didn't miss by that much. If anyone on the U.S. is taking that shot, you want it to be Clint.

Altidore gets in the face of Ecuador's Arroyo after the latter hacked him from behind to give the U.S. a free kick. Nice to see some emotion and toughness from Jozy as he got right in his face.

Shea called for shaky foul in Ecuador's box, he would have had a nice chance otherwise to cross it or hit a shot on goal.

Edu had a tricky ball bounce to him at the top of Ecuador's box but he completely whiffed. And that's why you're Maurice Edu, you'll never be known for your goal-scoring prowess.

Two minutes of added time.

Klinsmann looks like he's been playing with some balloons, haha his hair is standing up.

Halftime: U.S. 0, Ecuador 0

One of the best halves under Klinsmann for the U.S. They owned possession and seemed to be in Ecuador's end for most of the first 45+ minutes. They need to make more of their chances offensively but that's been true with the U.S. forever. A win against a quality opponent like this would be a nice development.

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U.S. Men's Roster Set For Ecuador & Honduras Friendlies In October

It has sneaked up on us a bit but the U.S. men's national team is less than two weeks away from a pair of friendlies on its own shores.

The U.S. meets Honduras on October 8 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami (6 p.m. ET) before visiting the East Coast to take on Ecuador on October 11 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. (7 p.m. ET). With that in mind, U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann named a mostly familiar roster of 22 players for those games this afternoon.

U.S. roster
GOALKEEPERS (3): Bill Hamid (D.C.United), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Timmy Chandler (Nürnberg), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Michael Orozco Fiscal (San Luis), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Jeff Larentowicz (Colorado Rapids), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim)

FORWARDS (5): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)

I included a picture of Williams since I'd never heard of him before (hat tip to the fine U.S. blog Yanks Abroad). You'll also note that Onyewu, Bradley and Beasley are back after not taking part in the disappointing matches against Costa Rica and Belgium at the start of September.

"We would like to continue seeing our players develop through these initial couple of months," said Klinsmann in a press release. "One important thing is to see continuity in the build-up of our national team and also in the way we work as coaches. We'd like to see new faces as well, but we also don't want to shake up the core structure of the team too much.

"The two results with Costa Rica and Belgium didn't work in our favor but we saw clearly that the team started to understand what we demand from them in terms of pace, playing style and how to play. "

I think we all know what we get with those three aforementioned players and it was assumed all along that they'd each rightfully have some place on this new iteration of the U.S. team. Bradley should immediately help in the midfield where the U.S. has struggled in three games under Klinsmann in terms of doing anything offensively from the middle of the park. Likewise, Beasley gives Altidore and Donovan some much needed skill. I've never been an Onyewu fan but it's still all hands on deck in terms of finding a fourth defender to pair with Bocanegra, Chandler and Cherundolo or possibly coming off the bench as as substitute.

After tying Mexico in Klinsmann's first match in August (in Philadelphia) then looking lethargic against Costa Rica in California and in Belgium, it is high time for the U.S. to get their new boss some more impressive results. Clearly, gaining chemistry and teaching new styles are paramount under Klinsmann but looking better in the process and pulling off some wins can only help gain confidence for all involved as well.

Update 10/3: Donovan is out with Edson Buddle replacing him. Apparently Landycakes has a strained right quadriceps.

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