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Is Christian Pulisic Playing Tonight for USMNT vs Ecuador?

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Emmanuel Mendez | Last updated Oct 10, 2025 4:16 PM ET

Highlights

Details on whether Christian Pulisic could start for the USMNT vs Ecuador
Mauricio Pochettino on Christian Pulisic
Expected Lineup for USMNT against Ecuador

The USMNT will play one of its two friendly matches of the October international break tonight against Ecuador at Q2 Stadium. The USMNT will take on Ecuador tonight and then against Australia on Tuesday.

Both matches are a test for Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT as Ecuador and Australia qualified for the 2026 World Cup.

One of the biggest stars in the USMNT that was called up for these two matches is Christian Pulisic. Pulisic's previous match was in the Serie A with AC Milan against Juventus.

Pulisic missed a penalty for AC Milan, and the match finished 0-0 at the Allianz Stadium. Pulisic was called up for the national team and trained with the rest of the USMNT. Just a day before the friendly against Ecuador, Mauricio Pochettino hinted that Pulisic may be out for the match.

Mauricio Pochettino revealed that a few players did train with the USMNT yesterday, and one of them was Christian Pulisic.

Pochettino did not fully rule out Pulisic for the game against Ecuador, but did say he will decide whether he will play a few hours before the match.

Pochettino said, "I need to communicate that we have some issues in some players like Christian [Pulisic] that didn’t train today, and Antonee Robinson. We need to assess tomorrow if they will be available or not. We don’t believe that Alex [Zendejas] will be part of the game tomorrow."

Expected Lineup for USMNT against Ecuador

If Pulisic is set to be available to play, the AC Milan star is expected to start the match against Ecuador. Pochettino may experiment with the 3-4-3 formation that he used against Japan last month.

The USMNT defeated Japan 2-0 in the last international break, where Christian Pulisic provided an assist for Folarin Balogun.

Predicted USMNT vs Ecuador