World Football

Manchester City's Erling Haaland scored his 100th goal for Manchester City in his 105th appearance for the club, tying Cristiano Ronaldo's European record as the fastest man to reach 100 goals with a European club.

Haaland achieved the feat early in Sunday's crucial Premier League showdown against Arsenal, a match featuring the league's two title favorites.

Ronaldo accomplished the feat back in 2011 during his time with Real Madrid.

The 24-year-old forward has been on an absolute tear this season, with 10 goals through his first five Premier League matches. It's an even more stunning form than he showed in his debut season at City back in the 2022-23 campaign, when he notched 36 goals in 33 EPL starts.

Last year was a more muted—albeit still incredibly clinical—campaign, with 27 goals in 29 EPL starts.

Haaland's blistering form comes has accompanied a perfect start to the 2024-25 season on the pitch for Manchester City, but it also comes while the team is on trial for an alleged 115 breaches of the EPL's financial regulations.

Per Reuters (h/t ESPN), City is facing charges related to "failing to provide accurate financial information; failing to provide full disclosure about player and manager remuneration; breaches of Premier League and UEFA financial fair play regulations; and a failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations," among others.

If found guilty, City is facing punishments that could range from fines and point deductions to potentially being removed altogether from competitions like the Premier League and Champions League.

That has cast something of a pall over the 2024-25 campaign for the defending champs, though it certainly hasn't affected Haaland's form.

The United States men's national team looked fairly lifeless through the first hour or so of Tuesday's friendly against New Zealand, a reminder that freshly-appointed head coach Mauricio Pochettino might indeed have his work cut out for him.

And then Christian Pulisic happened.

The USMNT's star winger, brought on as a substitute in the 57th minute, broke a scoreless deadlock in the 69th minute, providing his country with a spark in what was ultimately a 1-1 draw.

The good feelings didn't last long.

Just 20 minutes a series of defensive blunders squandered the USMNT's lead, with the look of anguish on Matt Turner's face reflected by American supporters tuning in:

And so fans and pundits alike were of two minds.

The first was that Pulisic was yet again deserving of high marks:

The second, however, was that the USMNT provided a fairly listless performance—albeit in a meaningless friendly with an interim manager at the helm—and that the Pochettino era can't begin soon enough:

A few points of context to consider.

The first is that the USMNT did appear to score a goal in the first half but had it disallowed, a surprise given there was no VAR in the match.

Another is that there has been a general sense of uncertainty around this team while the Pochettino hiring—which was rumored for weeks—was being finalized. Playing a meaningless friendly under a manager who is simply a placeholder isn't the easiest type of match to get up for.

Those aren't excuses, of course—the United States has far too much talent to draw with New Zealand. There is plenty to clean up in the Pochettino era after Gregg Berhalter's tenure ended with enduring mediocrity.

After weeks of rumors, the United States men's national team has officially named Mauricio Pochettino as its new head coach, replacing Gregg Berhalter.

According to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN, Pochettino will earn $6 million per year on his new contract. This makes him the highest-paid coach in U.S. Soccer history and more than double the $2,291,136 Berhalter earned in 2022, including World Cup bonuses.

Current USWNT manager Emma Hayes—who reportedly played a major role in convincing both U.S. Soccer and Pochettino that they were a good match after becoming friends with the Argentine while both were at Chelsea, per Paul Tenorio and Adam Crafton of The Athletic—is currently making $1.6 million per year.

The delay in hiring the new head coach stemmed from Pochettino's contract with his former club, Chelsea, which ran through 2025.

That meant the United States Soccer Federation and the Premier League club had to negotiate over the terms of ending that contract. And with that situation apparently resolved, the USMNT has its new coach.

Expectations will be high for Pochettino's tenure. Alongside guiding Chelsea for the 2023-24 season, the former defender also had tenures with Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain, most famously guiding Spurs to the UEFA Champions League final in the 2018-19 season and PSG to a 2021-22 Ligue 1 title.

The USMNT, meanwhile, stagnated under the watch of Berhalter. While the Americans did advance past the group stage of the 2022 World Cup (after failing to qualify for the tournament at all in 2018), they didn't build on that result in a positive manner in the years to follow, most notably failing to advance past the group stage of the 2024 Copa América despite serving as hosts.

Berhalter's main accomplishments were reaching the knockout phase of the World Cup, winning the Concacaf Nations League in 2021 and 2024, the Concacaf Gold Cup in 2021 and posting a solid record against rivals Mexico (four wins).

But the U.S. struggled against top competition under Berhalter, and with the country serving as joint-hosts for the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico, the expectation for Pochettino will be a marked improvement against stiffer competition.

The United States appears to be in the midst of a golden generation, with exciting young players like Christian Pulisic, Timothy Weah, Yunus Musah, Folarin Balogun and Gio Reyna among others, while promising youngsters like Cavan Sullivan are waiting in the wings.

The hope is that under Pochettino, the U.S. will take a step closer to becoming a global power in soccer. His signing is undoubtedly a high-profile addition and a statement of intent from the USSF.

The United States men's national team needs to bounce back with a win over New Zealand on Tuesday.

The USMNT suffered a rare defeat to regional rival Canada on Saturday as it awaits the official appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as manager.

Interim manager Mikey Varas will once again be in charge of the USMNT in Tuesday's friendly, but the game could come off the heels of an official Pochettino announcement.

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the game, the Americans just need to put together a better 90-minute performance to avoid another humiliating defeat.

USMNT vs. New Zealand Info

Date: Tuesday, September 10

Start Time: 7 p.m. ET

TV: TNT

Live Stream: Max

Preview

The Americans face a far easier matchup on paper against New Zealand.

The Kiwis are the best team in a very weak Oceania and they are coming off a 3-0 friendly defeat against Mexico.

Christian Pulisic and the USMNT should end their three-game losing streak against the All Whites.

Even an expected win is not a given with how poorly the Americans played throughout the losing run.

The end of the Gregg Berhalter era was ugly and it was clear on Saturday that Canada is ahead of the Americans in preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on home soil.

Pochettino's impending arrival should help right the course of the USMNT, but even if he announced before Tuesday's game, he will not have any influence on the game itself.

The attacking setup around Pulisic could change for Tuesday's game. Brenden Aaronson, Folarin Balogun and Malik Tillman started in the attack-minded positions on Saturday.

Haji Wright, Josh Sargent and Ricardo Pepi could push for playing time at striker in competition with Balogun.

Balogun has the best recent scoring track record for the USMNT, but the other three forward options have started well for their respective European teams.

Cade Cowell, who plays for Chivas in Liga MX, could be called upon for more dynamic playmaking alongside Pulisic in the final third.

Cowell, 20, is one of the many exciting young attackers who could help the USMNT's depth in the final third in this World Cup cycle.

New Zealand's biggest attacking threat is Chris Wood, who opened the English Premier League season with two goals in three games for Nottingham Forest.

Wood should provide a good test for Chris Richards, Tim Ream, or whomever starts at center-back for the USMNT, but the expectation is for the Americans to keep him under wraps and control the possession battle.

No matter who plays, the USMNT simply have to be better, and as long as it comes away with a win, it can take a positive step forward toward a new era.

Prediction: USMNT 2, New Zealand 0