United States National Football

In the first match under new head coach Mauricio Pochettino, the United States men's national team defeated Panama in a friendly on Saturday night by the score of 2-0.

The USMNT was able to earn some revenge after previously falling to Panama in the Copa América group stage on June 27. The U.S. squad failed to advance to the knockout stage following the loss, which ultimately led to the firing of former manager Gregg Berhalter.

There initially appeared to be some skepticism regarding changes under Pochettino following a scoreless first half, although it it didn't take long for the United States to get on the board under the 52-year-old once the second half started.

Following a give-and-go from Brenden Aaronson and Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah scored off a slick feed from Pulisic to break the tie in the 49th minute.

Panama nearly got on the board a few minutes later, but the USMNT maintained the lead following a double save by Matt Turner.

Ricardo Pepi cemented the victory for the U.S. squad in stoppage time, as he scored off a low cross from Haji Wright.

Fans praised the performance from the team as well as Pochettino.

The USMNT will be back in action for a matchup with rival Mexico on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET.

New United States Men's National Soccer Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino paid a massive compliment to U.S. soccer star Christian Pulisic on Friday.

According to Fox Sports' Doug McIntyre, Pochettino said the following regarding Pulisic: "I think he's a fantastic player, one of the best offensive players in the world."

Pochettino was officially named the USMNT's head coach last month, and the success he enjoys during his tenure will likely rest heavily on the shoulders of Pulisic, who is Team USA's best and most accomplished player.

The 26-year-old Pulisic made his USMNT debut back in 2016, and he has since gone on to score 31 goals in 73 matches, ranking him fifth on the all-time Team USA scoring list. He is also tied for seventh among USMNT players with 16 career assists.

Pulisic signed with Borussia Dortmund at the age of 16 and went on to appear in 90 matches for the club, followed by 98 matches with Chelsea and 43 matches with AC Milan, his current club.

Pochettino and Pulisic just missed out on overlapping at Chelsea, as Pulisic departed the club in the summer of 2023 at around the same time Pochettino was hired as manager.

While Pochettino only lasted about a year at Chelsea, he has an impressive managerial record overall, having also managed Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain.

Managing so many elite-level clubs has allowed Pochettino to coach up some of the best players in the world, and the fact that he puts Pulisic in that conversation is significant.

Pulisic won the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 and has had plenty of individual accolades, including being the four-time U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year, but he is still trying to get the USMNT into the conversation as one of soccer's elite teams.

While Pulisic has helped the USMNT win the CONCACAF Nations League three times, they fell to the Netherlands in the round of 16 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and didn't make it out of the group stage at the Copa América over the summer, which led to the firing of previous head coach Gregg Berhalter.

U.S. Soccer decided to go out and get a big name to replace Berhalter, and while Pochettino fits the bill, he now has to prove that he can take the USMNT to the next level.

The United States does not have the pressure of having to qualify for the 2026 World Cup since it is hosting the event with Canada and Mexico, but there will be a ton of pressure to perform well on home soil.

That starts with Pulisic, but Pochettino must also get the most out of other high-end talent, such as Timothy Weah, Weston McKinnie, Gio Reyna, Tyler Adams and Sergiño Dest.

The United States men's national team begins the Mauricio Pochettino era on Saturday against Panama.

The friendly serves as a starting point for the new USMNT head coach, who needs to have the program running at full speed by the time the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes around.

A majority of the USMNT's matches between now and the World Cup will be friendlies, because it has already qualified for the World Cup as one of three host nations.

Saturday's contest is the first of two games in the October international window against a continental foe. The Americans face Panama in Austin, Texas, on Saturday and then head to Mexico for a clash with El Tri on Tuesday.

USMNT vs. Panama Info

Date: Saturday, October 12

Start Time: 9 p.m. ET

TV: TNT

Live Stream: Max

Top Storylines

Every major storyline regarding Saturday's match involves Pochettino.

Which players will he use in his first starting XI? What will his system look like? How will the players adapt to the system in a short amount of time?

Everything will not be perfect right away, but the time for growing pains has to be only a few matches because of how little time the new manager gets with his players.

The USMNT players arrived in camp on Monday and Tuesday and will only have a handful of days to adapt to Pochettino's style of play.

Pochettino will utilize either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation that demands a lot of high pressing, a tactic that some players in the USMNT squad should be used to already.

Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie will be the two focal points of whichever lineup Pochettino decides to put out on Saturday in Austin.

They will be two anchors of the USMNT XI at the World Cup, as should Antonee Robinson at left back, but there are plenty of tough decisions to be made elsewhere on the field.

Pochettino needs to decide who his No. 1 goalkeeper and top striker are, a debate that raged on throughout the Gregg Berhalter era.

Matt Turner has the most caps among the four goalkeepers in camp, but Zack Steffen, who is back with the USMNT after a two-year absence, could be in contention for the starting role on Saturday. Ethan Horvath and Patrick Schulte are the other two keepers in camp.

If the forward decision was based solely on form at the club level, Josh Sargent would be the clear pick to lead the attack.

Sargent has four goals for Norwich City in the English Championship, including two tallies in his last two games.

Ricardo Pepi has three goals for PSV Eindhoven this season, but he's started once since the September international break, Haji Wright has one goal in his last eight appearances for Coventry City and Brandon Vazquez owns three goals in 12 games in the current Liga MX season for Monterrey.

Pulisic is the hottest scorer amongst the entire group. He found the back of the net in four straight games for AC Milan and has five goals in seven matches this season. He will start in a supporting role directly behind the starting striker.

An in-form Pulisic is terrific for the Americans to have at the starting point of the Pochettino era. At minimum, a strong performance from the American captain is expected, no matter what the tactical setup is.

Panama is using the match to gear up for the rest 2026 World Cup qualification in November. It plays the USA and Canada in the next week to prepare for November matches against Belize and Nicaragua.

Panama is typically in the second tier of Concacaf squads and it is expected to reach the third round of Concacaf World Cup qualifying and eventually make the World Cup.

Beating Panama would be seen as a step in the right direction under Pochettino since the Americans lost the last matchup between the two sides back at the Copa America this summer.

A win is expected to kick off the Pochettino era, and while it may not be perfect, a few positive signs of where the program is headed should be on display on Saturday.

Prediction: USMNT 2, Panama 0

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

The U.S. men's national soccer team had a chance to earn some positive momentum in a friendly against Canada on Saturday.

That did not happen as the USMNT fell to Canada 2-1 in Kansas City. The result marked Canada's first win over the U.S. since 2022 and the first on U.S. soil since 1957.

Canada opened the scoring with a Jacob Shaffelburg strike in the 17th minute and would expand the lead to two when Jonathan David capitalized on a U.S. turnover.

The U.S. would cut the deficit in half with a Lucas De La Torre goal in the 66th minute but it was too little, too late.

Canada outshot the U.S. 17-8, seven of which were on target. The U.S. possessed the ball for 58 percent of the match but 18 fouls and some inefficient offense held the team back from a win.

Many fans placed the blame on the lack of stability along the touchline. Mikey Varas served as the interim coach after the organization fired Gregg Berhalter. Former Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino is expected to be the next U.S. coach but the process to bring him aboard hasn't been formalized just yet.

U.S. fans took to social media to beg for Pochettino and an improved squad moving forward:

Pochettino has compiled a 316-144-189 overall record in his managerial career and has found success with Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. The U.S team, however, will be his toughest task yet.

The U.S. is ranked No. 16 in the world and is currently preparing to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The team fell in the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup and did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup.