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The United States battled back for a 1-1 draw with Ecuador after Folarin Balogun scored in the second half of a back-and-forth match at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Friday night.
Christian Pulisic, who had been a doubt due to an ankle injury picked up during training this week, was named as a substitute, while Antonee Robinson, whose availability was also in question, was left out of the squad entirely.
The U.S. came into the game off the back of a win and a loss in its pair of September friendlies — losing 2-0 to South Korea before bouncing back to beat Japan by the same scoreline. Ecuador, which finished second in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying, was down several star players including Chelsea midfielder Moisés Caicedo.
The Americans started well in an up-tempo opening 20 minutes, but wound up conceding first when Enner Valencia got on the end of a through ball on a counter-attack and fired a low shot past Matthew Freese to give Ecuador a lead it took into halftime.
The U.S. continued to look sharp in the second half and finally found a first goal when Balogun, who’d looked dangerous all night, redirected a Chris Richards cross off the post and into the back of the net to level the score at 1-1.
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino made numerous changes in the second half, including bringing on Pulisic in the 73rd minute, but the Americans could not find the go-ahead goal.
The U.S. plays Australia in another friendly on Oct. 14, and will regroup for two more exhibitions in November against Paraguay and Uruguay.
