USA-Ecuador: Three Tidbits of History

With nearly 700 official matches in the books against 97 different opponents since the U.S. Men’s National Team first started playing in 1916, the MNT has accumulated a rich history of dramatic results, intriguing story lines and interesting anecdotes.

Ahead of Thursday’s match against Ecuador, here are three tidbits of the MNT’s history against La Tricolor:

A Team to Debut Against

This is a completely random and unscientific fact, but did you know that six MNT players who made their senior debut against Ecuador went on to represent the United States in at least one FIFA World Cup?

Future MNT captain Tony Meola around the time of his MNT debut vs. Ecuador in 1988

Why is it significant? Because as international opponents go, that ranks as the second most behind only Canada and Guatemala, who each had seven future U.S. World Cup players debut against them.

Who are the six, you ask? Here’s a grid to lay it all out for you…

Future USA World Cup Players to Debut vs. Ecuador
Player	Debut Date	World Cup Rosters	Total MNT Caps
Mike Windischmann	Nov. 30, 1984	1990	50
Brian Bliss	Dec. 2, 1984	1990	33
Tony Meola	June 7, 1988	1990, 1994, 2002	100
Pablo Mastroeni	June 7, 2001	2002, 2006	61
Tim Howard	March 10, 2002	2006, 2010, 2014	121
Benny Feilhaber	March 25, 2007	2010	44

The seven players on that list combine for a total of 11 World Cup rosters and 409 caps. Two players captained the USA at the World Cup (Mike Windischmann 1990; Tony Meola 1994), while Meola and Tim Howard are two of the MNT’s world-record holding 17 players to attain 100 or more caps.

Landon’s Second Hat Trick

The last MNT World Cup player to debut against Ecuador was Benny Feilhaber, but his first cap in 2007 was understandably overshadowed by the second of Landon Donovan’s MNT record three career hat tricks.

Donovan tallied one of the fastest goals in MNT history, putting back a rebound just 35 seconds into the game. He then completed the feat with goals in the 66^th and 67^th minutes to cap the scoring in a 3-1 victory at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

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