Intro:

Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has announced that Landon Donovan will don the captain's armband for the U.S.A. against Ecuador in their friendly at East Hartford, Connecticut on Friday (10 October).

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English): Jurgen Klinsmann, U.S.A. Head Coach:

"No, we have the understanding with Landon (Donovan) that he obviously starts the game, you know, gets the captain armband out of respect to what he did for the program over so many years. He had an outstanding career so we want him to enjoy that moment. You know, the plan is that he's playing about a half an hour into the game - you know, two days later he has a Galaxy game coming up and he's coming in only on Thursday then as well but it's obviously a special moment, it's a special celebration for everybody involved and hopefully it's going to be a memorable day for him."

SOUNDBITE (English): Jurgen Klinsmann, U.S.A. Head Coach:

(on choosing his team).

"We do what is best for our team. You know, we want to kind of continue the positive moment that we created there in Prague against Czech Republic with a very young group so this group is back. We mix it a bit with MLS (Major League Soccer), you know, we have two games then obviously, the Honduras game so we try to kind of put the pieces together the best way it suits us, you know, and then obviously, you know, but other decisions being made then, if it's MLS or club teams in Europe, whatever, that comes second to us, you know, so we are happy to have that group now around here and we want to do well against a very good Ecuador side."

SOUNDBITE (English): Tim Ream, U.S.A. defender:

"Obviously Ecuador is a good side, you know, a team that did fairly well at the World Cup so I think it's still early in the cycle, obviously it's just starting so it's just, you know, getting a feel for everybody and how they play, like I said, and getting a much better understanding of, you know what the staff wants to do and what they want to change from the last cycle and you know I think it'll be a good test for everybody."