International Friendly: Ecuador 1-0 United States

Some of us were hoping things were looking up after the USA's win over Honduras earlier this international break. Well, not so much huh?

Honestly the USA didn't play horribly in this match. Ecuador really didn't have many chances until they actually scored late in the match, and a lot of that can be pinned on a particular player.

The question now is, "Where are the goals going to come from?" The USA has just two goals under the new regime, and they're attacking more, which is kind of odd. Dempsey provided a goal against Honduras, but there was nothing doing against Ecuador last night.

Of course the USA might have still gotten a result had it not been for a glaring mistake in defense. Again, as in the Gold Cup, this mistake was provided by Time Ream. In the 79th minute, Ecuador sent in a cross toward Jamie Ayovi. Ream got caught looking looking between the ball and the man, and Ayovi smoked him and headed the cross past Tim Howard to seal the 1-0 win for the South American side.

I'll ask again: Is Tim Ream really a better defender than Nat Borchers?

So another loss under Klinsmann. I think American fans are still willing to be patient, but like it or not the expectations have been raised for soccer here in the United States. It will be interesting to see what happens when the results actually matter come World Cup Qualifying time.

Copa America: Paraguay vs. Ecuador

Ok, I didn't really expect much out of this one, so I wasn't really disappointed. I watched Paraguay in the World Cup last year, and they just didn't end up being a team I really cared for. Then they beat the USA, which made me laugh.

Anyway, Paraguay had most of the moments in this one. They had most of the possession and almost all of the chances. The Ecuadorians tried to carve out a chance or two on the counter, but nothing was really going on.

Paraguay had what was probably the best chance in the second half. Marcelo Estigarribia hit a shot that just barely drifted across the Ecuador goal mouth, much to the relief of their keeper. That was really the margin between 1 point and three.

So the smaller fish have stepped up: Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. That's all well and good, but hopefully the soccer will improve, which will probably happen when the big fish come to play. Until then, well, it's anybody's Copa!