The USMNT has some big matchup advantages over Ecuador

Knowing how the USMNT matches up with such a tough foe will be key to their success, especially since Ecuador has been able to play the matchup game so well so far in the Copa América Centenario. That’s something that the US has struggled with at times, so knowing going in how they stack up and who has advantages where could give them a huge advantage to work with.

Brad Guzan is coming off a miserable season with an Aston Villa side that wound up being relegated from the English Premier League, but he seems to be finding himself again in the Copa América. He’s never been the equal to Tim Howard in his prime, but when Guzan is playing well, his instincts and ability to direct his defense are both excellent, even if his distribution has never quite been up to par.

Ecuador will be calling on Alexander Dominguez, who has performed well in only giving up two goals so far during the Copa, both in a draw with Peru. He held Brazil scoreless in an impressive showing, displaying a knack for positioning and instinctual save making that can hang with many of the better goalkeepers around. He’s sometimes far too eager to come off his line, though, and there are times that he doesn’t seem to coordinate well with his defenders, which just gives the US the edge in this matchup.

Ecuador may not have the pure talent on their back line that many teams in the Copa do, but they do have tough-nosed defenders who play well as a unit and aren’t tasked with doing anything outside of their skill set. They’re not flashy, but the pairing of Arturo Mina and Gabriel Achilier work very effectively together, and Juan Carlos Paredes brings an athletic element on the right side after enjoying some success with Watford in the EPL last season. On the left, Walter Ayovi might not be as sprightly as he was in his younger years, but the veteran still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve that he’s been using to great effect so far in the Copa. The unity of this group gives them an edge over the USMNT, despite their comparative lack of talent.

John Brooks has been probably the best defender in the tournament so far, with a number of heroic moments in each of the USMNT’s matches, but the rest of the American back line has a number of question marks. His central partner, Geoff Cameron, has had wildly variable performances, looking horrid in one half and like a brick wall in the next. While he can be very good, that inconsistency is not encouraging because you never know when the bad side will show up. Fabian Johnson is a good player at left back, but he’s far better up front and is seriously hamstrung by playing so deep. Their main right back, DeAndre Yedlin, is suspended after losing his mind and making two insanely rash challenges within a minute of each other in the USMNT’s last match. His replacement, Michael Orozco, is not someone many fans wanted to see in the squad, because while his versatility to play across the back line has value, his pronounced mediocrity in every position does not.

The midfield key for both sides in their last match came from their wide players, however. Ecuador’s combination of the pace of Antonio Valencia and the supportive effort of Jefferson Montero closely mirrored the USMNT’s duo of Gyasi Zardes and Alejandro Bedoya, though the pacy Valencia and the hard-working Bedoya had the bigger overall contributions for their respective teams. If both teams persist with the same midfield tactics from their last matches, we should wind up seeing a very even affair between the two sides.

While Ecuador have the most currently talented and in-form attacker in Enner Valencia, the USMNT’s pairing of Bobby Wood and Clint Dempsey proved wonderfully effective in their last match. Dempsey had been struggling to find space in the earlier U.S. matches when he was operating as a lone striker up top, as he no longer has the same quickness in close quarters on or off the ball as he once did, but with the hard-working Bobby Wood up top to clear space and give Dempsey that space, he proved much more effective. Wood himself has been having an excellent tournament, with a goal to his name and three impressive performances in the group stage.

Ecuador, unfortunately, lack a player with the same chemistry with Valencia that the USMNT have in their attacking pairing. The only player who’s shown the same kind of cohesion with the West Ham forward is Miller Bolaños, but he’s out with a hamstring injury suffered in Ecuador’s 2-2 draw with Peru. Jaime Ayoví is a question mark with an injury of his own, but he was not nearly as effective a strike partner with Valencia, nor was Juan Cazares. Unless Ecuador can get Valencia some help, he could prove too easy to target and mark out of the match for long spells of the game.

The one major weakness of this Ecuador side is that they don’t have much depth. While players like Fidel Martínez or Ángel Mena or Pedro Larrea are useful, they’re really just less talented and effective versions of the players they’d be replacing -- there’s too large of a talent drop off and insufficient tactical diversity for them to be truly impact players off the bench.

The United States, on the other hand, have a relative wealth of options. Matt Besler is a solid defender who can be summoned off the bench. Darlington Nagbe and Christian Pulisic have shown game-changing potential in the second half of matches. Kyle Beckerman, Graham Zusi and Perry Kitchen give the USMNT the ability to change their midfield shape and approach, or just bring on fresh legs to the same setup. That kind of quality and range to the bench is an invaluable tool for a manager to have at his disposal in a major tournament like this, and it can be a major asset to carry a team through single-elimination matches like this one.

Overall, it would appear that the US have an edge, though the evenness of the midfield battle could prove to be an interesting hurdle for both teams in this match. Whoever can find a way to overcome that and gain an edge would have a crucial advantage in the matchup, and that could prove to be the deciding factor when the final whistle blows.

In any event, this should be an exciting match to watch as the tactical battle unfolds. These are two very good teams, with an underrated Ecuador team on one side, and a United States team on the other who sometimes fails to live up to expectations, but are capable of brilliant performances when properly motivated. With this Copa América quarterfinal match taking place in front of a loud and excited pro-USMNT crowd in Seattle, it’s hard to see the motivation getting any better.