AUSTIN, Texas — Mauricio Pochettino’s U.S. men’s national team debut sprang to life after 48 minutes, and the man who gave it a necessary jolt wasn’t the savior coach; it was the star who’ll need to propel Pochettino’s reboot, Christian Pulisic.
Pulisic unlocked a Saturday friendly vs. Panama that, for most of a scoreless first half, looked a lot like the USMNT’s Gregg Berhalter era. “Really, I didn’t feel too many changes,” Panama coach Thomas Christiansen said postgame.
But shortly after halftime, the decisive moment arrived. It began with nine patient passes. Tim Ream pinged a 10th over the top, down the left. The ball then found Pulisic, who wriggled into the penalty box via a cute 1-2 with Brenden Aaronson. And with the 14th pass of the attacking move, Pulisic set up Yunus Musah for the opening goal of the game — and Musah’s first for the national team.
In second-half stoppage time, Ricardo Pepi added a second, and the USMNT secured a 2-0 victory.
The performance was by no means perfect or dynamic, but, “I think it’s the basis, and the first step, to start to grow and be better,” Pochettino said.
Before and after the goals, the USMNT was unremarkable. Pochettino called it a “professional performance.” Players sounded pleased, but, “it’s just a work in progress, of course,” veteran defender Tim Ream said. After all, it was Pochettino’s first game, after his very first week of training.
And the starting lineup was experimental, by necessity — because seven regulars were injured and missing. An eighth, Weston McKennie, was on the bench due to undisclosed discomfort. “We want to protect him,” Pochettino said. The physical problem is minor, he added, but “we didn’t want to take a risk.”
Instead, the starting midfielders were Aaronson, Gianluca Busio and Aidan Morris. Musah played on the right, after multiple years as a central midfielder, almost exclusively, under Berhalter. Pochettino said the reason was to allow Musah “to build his confidence from starting in a different position,” with less “responsibility in the buildup.”
Pochettino’s chosen 11 were energetic, and quick to press Panama. They fashioned several counterattacks after regains in the attacking half — and they want to do more of that. “Against the ball, I think we can still figure things out, the way we want to put pressure and win balls back,” Pulisic said.
Ream added: “In the first half, the press in the attacking half was a little bit disjointed, at times. But, again, we’ve not worked on it fully.”
The other problem was that, as was often the case under Berhalter, they lacked cutting edge in the final third — especially in Panama’s penalty box.
The difference, though, was the winger whom Pochettino recently called “one of the best offensive players in the world.”
Pulisic is in the form of his life for AC Milan in Italy. He’s the best forward in Serie A. “He’s flying,” Musah, his teammate for club and country, said Friday. And he brought the form to Q2 Stadium on Saturday.
He is, without a doubt, the most important player within the Pochettino project. If there’s a revolution, Pulisic will surely drive it. He’s a “fantastic player,” Pochettino said Friday, “a player that is going to help now, and in the future, to put the team in a place that we want.”
And a day later, Pochettino’s first game drove home the point.
Other U.S. players were active. Aaronson, deployed as an attacking midfielder, was a pest — and precisely the type of pressing maniac that Pochettino will love. Aidan Morris was imperfect but often tidy on the ball and sturdy against it. Antonee Robinson was his usual buccaneering self down the left.
None of them, though, had the quality to find an incisive pass, or finish the odd chance. Josh Sargent missed the USMNT’s best opportunity of the first half. In the second, prior to stoppage time, the best chances fell to Panama — and U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner was equal to each of them.
It wasn’t until the 94th minute that Haji Wright set up Pepi for another golden one. Pepi sealed the deal. And Pochettino closed the night by clapping to fans, who serenaded him with a simple chant: “Poch-e-tti-no! Poch-e-tti-no!”
Next up for the U.S. is a Tuesday friendly against Mexico in Guadalajara. That, in many ways, will be a tougher test for Pochettino and the Americans. It will, Pochettino said, “be a very complicated match.”