Mauricio Pochettino offers USMNT something crucial to its debut win: hope | US sports

As he walked through his technical area with puffed cheeks, pursed lips and folded arms, one of the most recognizable faces in club football was visible: the unfamiliar sight of a USA badge on his lapel.

After the final whistle, Mauricio Pochettino stormed onto the field with a big grin, celebrating the 2-0 win over Panama in his first game as coach of the US men's national team, with pats on the back, hugs and handshakes for everyone from players to officials up to the cameraman.

Had the US been in solid shape and on an upward trajectory, the former Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea coach would not have been hired, so Saturday's result and performance, imperfect as it was, comes after a summer of setbacks represented an immediate upswing. There were smiling faces on the pitch and in the stands of a loud and almost full stadium. This was a positive after a string of poor results and a Copa América group stage exit in which the U.S. somehow looked both boisterous and sluggish. Different.

Under Pochettino's predecessor, Gregg Berhalter, the US was in a perpetual learning process, always on the path to consistent excellence, but never achieving that cherished goal, even as the core group, many of them teenagers when he took over, entered its midst – 20s.

Now is the time to move forward, with the co-hosts just 20 months away from the 2026 World Cup and the number of international matches remaining before the tournament has dropped to single digits. Berhalter provided the ingredients; Pochettino has to mix, cook and serve them over two summers. Preferably well done.

“I think it was a very professional performance and I think we are happy because I think we achieved all the (goals) that we said before the game and I think it is an important victory” Pochettino told reporters.

Finally, Panama torpedoed Berhalter's long reign with a shocking 2-1 win in the Copa in June. The U.S. has lost five times in 11 games in 2024, the most defeats in a calendar year since 2019, Berhalter's first year. Coming into this friendly at Q2 Stadium in Austin, the U.S. had won just once in its last seven games, against Bolivia, South America's worst team, in June.

It's not a record that's consistent with the view that the U.S. is Concacaf's dominant force and has the potential to go deep in 2026 – a belief that certainly contributed to the former Argentina defender to convince him to leave the club scene and make his first foray into international management.

After leaving Chelsea, Pochettino would certainly have been offered a job at another top European club soon. Instead, he was in Texas in front of a crowd of 20,239, controlling players of varying skill levels for an association that leveraged a donation from a Floridian hedge fund billionaire and Republican megadonor to cover his reported $6 million annual salary.

Pochettino noticed in 2022 that an oversupply of superstars was causing problems in Paris, where he trained Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar. “Too much size” will not be an issue in this role. Only Christian Pulisic, who scored six goals in nine appearances for Milan this season, falls into this category.

A rash of injuries to first-team regulars meant Pochettino's lineup inevitably presented an opportunity to turn his attention to players who had made only marginal contributions under Berhalter. There was no Gio Reyna, Tim Weah or Folarin Balogun to initiate the attack. No Tyler Adams or Weston McKennie in midfield or Sergiño Dest and Chris Richards in defense. Interestingly, Tim Ream was captain of the team a week after his 37th birthday. Does Pochettino think Ream can contribute to the World Cup despite his advanced age? Did he want experienced leadership to provide stability in his first game? Did he have limited alternatives? Yes.

Pochettino started up front with Norwich City's Josh Sargent, who shot an easy chance over the crossbar from eight meters in the first half. In doing so, Sargent reinforced the sobering feeling that he – like Chris Wondolowski before him – is an effective goal producer in a second-tier league who cannot reliably repeat his form for the national team. The 24-year-old last scored a goal for the USA in 2019.

Nevertheless, he seemed to be a better choice to score than Yunus Musah, who is used as a defensive midfielder under Berhalter. After a tiring but ineffective first half, reminiscent of the pre-Poch era in its failure to overcome or dismantle decent and energetic opponents, Musah scored the first goal under the new management: his first international goal in his 42nd season. International match.

There was a break with the past here: Pochettino deployed Musah on the right wing and gave him permission to attack. According to the coach, it was an attempt to revive a player who has had limited playing time for Milan this season. “(We) tried to build his confidence, maybe by starting in a different position than in the past. I think it was a good decision,” Pochettino told reporters.

The build-up to the 49th-minute goal was also a refreshing change, with evidence of teamwork and calculation that had often been missing under Berhalter, when there seemed to be few offensive plans other than inviting a speedy winger to attack the defense and hoping for profit from whatever chaos might arise. It was shocking, in a good way, to see Musah storm towards the six-yard box (a run one might have expected from Sargent) and deflect a cross from Pulisic, his club-mate, as if he had been doing it all his life .

Panama then put the USA under pressure and had a few good chances to equalize before a relatively straightforward breakaway goal in stoppage time sealed the win. Here too, the identity of the scorer implied a departure from previous struggles, a time of new possibilities. Substitute Ricardo Pepi had not scored for his country in 11 months, but his shot went through the goalkeeper's legs. The shutout and some important saves from Matt Turner, whose career in England seems to be at a dead end, had a refreshing effect.

The atmosphere could change as Pochettino's honeymoon comes to an end: when the players are marginalized and become disillusioned, and later in the season when they are tired and taking hits, and his intense training sessions and high-pressing style for Footballers whose main focus naturally seems like a strenuous imposition on club sports, which take up the majority of their time and generate almost all of their income.

The mood could even change as early as Tuesday, when the United States visits Guadalajara for a friendly against Mexico that is expected to be a tough test, not least because the Americans have not played a game outside their own country since last November.

But despite the blemishes and moments of luck, victory was the most important thing for a team that lost to Canada and drew with New Zealand in friendlies last month under an interim coach. It inspires more confidence in a manager whose past successes already ensure he has the respect of players and fans, and it points the U.S. down the path to something different, something better.