Austin, Texas – Almost everything, from team meetings to training sessions, took place late for Mauricio PocsettinoThe first week in charge of the American national football team. So perhaps he should not be surprising that his players need a little more time to present himself for the first match of their coach on Saturday, with Yunus Musah and Ricardo Pepi Getting goals in the second half to give the United States a 2-0 victory over Panama.
More importance, however, was the way the team played. After launching the pocket era with a first half that looked very much like Gregg Berhalter One – energetic but sloppy and lacking creativity – The United States could do it right in the second half to get the victory.
“We have shown that we are going to compete in all the phases of the game,” Pochettino said in Spanish. “I am very satisfied. But there are many places where we can improve. ”
The United States will conclude the first pocket training camp as a coach on Tuesday when it meets Mexico in Guadalajara.
The transformation that Pochettino has been responsible for directing will take time. But on Saturday was a good start – the victory managed an undefeated sequence of four games, the longest of the team in more than two years. This only gave the Americans their second victory in eight matches, while the two goals have equaled their most in a match since March.
This crisis, less than two years before the return of the World Cup to the United States, led Berhalter's dismissal as a coach in July and pocket hiring in September.
The beginnings of the Berhalter national team coach also came against Panama – a 3-0 victory in Glendale, Arizona, in January 2019. His departure was then accelerated by a defeat of American Copa against Panama in June.
The arrival of Pochettino, on the other hand, brings great expectations, as evidenced by its contract, was worth $ 12 million over two years, almost double the record for an American coach. And Pochettino, the first coach of the national team hired from outside the United States in 33 years, came with a successful curriculum vitae in the main clubs in three of the best European leagues.
It remains to be seen if this will result in the success at the level of the national team, which is why the Argentinian coach said that the accent in his first training camp would be to present the new coach staff to his team while inventing the team with his favorite style of play.
The American striker Josh Sargent (24) collided with the goalkeeper of Panama Orlando Mosquera (22 years old) and defender Cesar Blackman (2) on a corner during the friendly international on Saturday.
(Rodolfo Gonzalez / Associated Press)
“A few days on training with the team, it's incredible how they focused on concentration to try to follow the plan,” said Ponchettino. “A very professional performance. The base, you know, the first step to start growing and being better.”
Against Panama, Pochettino has kept relatively simple things, playing in the back with defender Tim Ream carrying the captain's armband and Josh Sargent, playing like the lonely striker – although he suffered from a lack of service during most of the first 45 minutes.
The United States was on the front from the start, dominating possession early and just lacking in a few dangerous chances in the first 11 minutes. But Panama began to catch up over the match, obtaining the first two shots at goal when Edgar Bárcenas tested the American goalkeeper Matt Turner twice, a few minutes apart, halfway through the first half.
Musah opened the match in the 49th minute at the end of a sequence of six passes in which five players hit the ball.
It started with a long pass of oars from inside the American end to Antonee Robinson on the left wing. Robinson then dribbled from top to bottom along the key line to create space before pushing the ball to Christian Pulisic, who worked with Brenden Aaronson who ended with Pulisic sending the ball through the front of the goal to a large open Musah. His easy finish gave him his first international goal.
Three minutes later, Turner made another pair of backups a few seconds to protect the advance. Turner also took a break in the 87th minute when Jose Fajardo stopped behind the American defense, leaving him with just the goalkeeper to beat, only to push his wide sliding shot of the right post.
Pepi added the exclamation mark with an insurance objective four minutes after the time of downtime, taking a centering pass from Haji Wright in the middle of the box and properly beating the Panamanian goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera.
“We were really solid at both ends, have been chances and also kept the ball out of the net,” said Turner. “Understanding was very good and we remained very compact. So, yes, it was a good night.
“I don't want to have too much ahead of ourselves. It is a building block for the future, because it was in no way perfect. ”
Ream accepted.
“Some things to work on. But overall, to leave with two goals, a victory, a white sheet,” he said. “For his first game, we are quite heavy at ease.”
Pochettino lacked seven probable starters – including the Tyler Adams midfielder and the attackers Tim Weah, Folarin Balogun and Gio Reyna – of what would probably be his best programming, so his transformation necessarily remains a work in progress. The United States has used 17 players, but Weston McKennie never left the bench, Pochettino saying that the midfielder had a little minor discomfort. McKennie could play Mexico on Tuesday.
