The Mauricio Pochettino era got off to a solid start with the US men’s national team’s 2-0 win against Panama in an international friendly at Austin FC’s Q2 Stadium Saturday night.
Yunus Musah and Ricardo Pepi scored for the USMNT, which heads to Guadalajara to take on rival Mexico in the final friendly of the October window Tuesday.
Musah broke the scoreless stalemate four minutes after halftime with his first international goal. Christian Pulisic and Brenden Aaronson played a one-two with the AC Milan midfielder sending an endline cross to his club and country teammate and Musah capped the well-worked sequence with a first-time finish.
Matt Turner made sure the lead held up, making a pair of quality saves three minutes later, with the former New England Revolution goalkeeper first diving to get his left hand on Édgar Bárcenas’ shot and then scampering to rob José Luis Rodriguez on the rebound.
Ricardo Pepi put the finishing touches on the win, with the former FC Dallas star scoring in second-half stoppage time, much to the delight of many friends and family in Austin Saturday night.
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: It wasn’t a dream debut, but it was a good first step for the USMNT with Pochettino in charge. They didn’t concede much and the winning goal was well worked, starting with Jedi Robinson before the Aaronson-Pulisic combination and that first-time finish inside the six by Musah. Now the USMNT head to Guadalajara to renew their rivalry with Mexico on Tuesday, while Panama meet Canada at Toronto FC’s BMO Field.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Turner didn’t have a lot to do, but he came up huge with a double-save just after the USMNT took the lead.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: He scored the first goal of the Pochettino era and it was his first on the international stage, as such we give the flowers to Musah.
Next Up
- USA: Tuesday, October 15 at Mexico (10:30 pm ET | TNT, Univision, Max)
- PAN: Tuesday, October 15 at Canada (7:30 pm ET | FS1, OneSoccer)
