USA men take on Ecuador in soccer friendly at Frisco’s Toyota Stadium

The U.S. Men’s National Team continues soccer preparations for the upcoming Copa America Centenario with a stopover at Frisco’s Toyota Stadium on Wednesday to face fellow Centenario qualifier Ecuador.

USA began its final stretch of tuneups for the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Puerto Rico on Sunday, but did so largely with a roster that should look quite different when the U.S. kicks off the tournament June 3 against Colombia.

It’s likely U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann will insert more familiar names into the starting 11 Wednesday because the team has just one additional match, against Bolivia in Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday, before it assumes host duties for the legendary tournament for the first time.

Klinsmann announced his 23-man roster for the Centenario last week, and it includes 15 members of the 2014 World Cup squad, including popular players such as Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Tim Howard.

“This roster really was put together based on what we saw over the last year, and it’s one that makes us the strongest team possible to compete in Copa America and to hopefully surprise a lot of people,” Klinsmann said.

In a local connection, Klinsmann also called up FC Dallas defender Kellyn Acosta to the roster against Ecuador. Acosta is originally from Plano and came up through the FC Dallas Academy. He has made two previous appearances for the senior National Team.

The U.S. has won four of its five matches this year. Ecuador enters the match on a stretch of three wins, a draw and a loss in its last five matches, and is tied for first place with Uruguay in the South American group for World Cup qualification.

USA is placed in Group A of the Centenario, along with Colombia, Costa Rica and Paraguay.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 7:02 PM with the headline "USA men take on Ecuador in soccer friendly at Frisco’s Toyota Stadium."