Most everything from team meetings to training sessions have been running late during Mauricio Pochettino’s first week in charge of the national soccer team. So perhaps it should be no surprise that his players needed a little extra time to find their way in their coach’s first game Saturday, with Yunus Musah and Ricardo Pepi scoring second-half goals to give the U.S. a 2-0 win over Panama.
Of more importance, however, was how the team played. After kicking off the Pochettino Era with a first half that looked a lot like the Gregg Berhalter one — energetic but sloppy and lacking in creativity — the U.S. was able to do just enough in the second half to get the win.
The U.S. will conclude Pochettino’s first training camp as coach Tuesday when it meets Mexico in Guadalajara.
The win snapped a four-game unbeaten streak, the team’s longest in more than two years, and gave the Americans just their second victory in their last eight matches. And the two goals match the most the U.S. has scored in a game since March.
That slump, less than two years before the World Cup returns to the U.S., led to Berhalter’s dismissal as coach last July and Pochettino’s hiring in September.
Berhalter’s national team coaching debut also came against Panama — a 3-0 win in Glendale, Ariz., in January 2019. His departure was then hastened by a Copa América loss to Panama last June.
Pochettino’s arrival, meanwhile, brings with it great expectations, as evidenced by his contract, reported to be worth $12 million over two years, nearly twice the record for a U.S. manager. And Pochettino, the first national team coach hired from outside the U.S. in 33 years, came with a resume of success at major clubs in three of Europe’s top leagues.
Whether that will translate to success at the national team level remains to be seen, which is why the Argentine coach said the emphasis in his first training camp would be on introducing the new coaching staff to his team while introducing the team to their preferred playing style.
Against Panama, Pochettino kept things relatively simple, playing out of the back with defender Tim Ream wearing the captain’s armband and Josh Sargent, playing as the lone striker — although he suffered from a lack of service through most of the opening 45 minutes.
The U.S. was on the front foot from the start, dominating possession early and just missing on a couple of dangerous chances in the opening 11 minutes. But Panama began to catch up as the game wore on, getting the first two shots on goal when Edgar Bárcenas tested U.S. keeper Matt Turner twice, minutes apart, midway through the first half.
Musah broke open the game in the 49th minute at the end of a six-pass sequence that saw five players touch the ball.
It started with a long Ream pass from inside the U.S. end to Antonee Robinson on the left wing. Robinson then dribbled up and back along the touchline to create space before pushing the ball toward Christian Pulisic, who worked a give-and-go with Brenden Aaronson that ended with Pulisic sending the ball across the front of the goal to a wide-open Musah for the finish.
Three minutes later Turner made a pair of sprawling saves seconds apart to protect the lead. Turner also caught a break in the 87th minute when Jose Fajardo got behind the U.S. defender and had only the keeper to beat, only to push his sliding shot wide of the right post.
Pepi added the exclamation point with an insurance goal four minutes into stoppage time, taking a centering pass from Haji Wright in the middle of the box and beating Panamanian keeper Orlando Mosquera cleanly.
Pochettino was missing seven probable starters — among them midfielder Tyler Adams and forwards Tim Weah, Folarin Balogun and Gio Reyna — from what would likely be his best lineup, so his transformation necessarily remains a work in progress. But the coach, who used 17 players Saturday, also left midfielder Weston McKennie on the bench, perhaps saving him for Tuesday’s game in Mexico.
