Mauricio Pochettino began his tenure as US men’s national team manager with a win on Saturday night as the Americans beat Panama 2-0 in a home friendly.
Midfielder Yunus Musah notched the opening goal in front of the crowd in Austin, Texas, with his AC Milan teammate Christian Pulisic supplying the assist with a cross from the left.
Panama actually outshot the US 13-11 and came close to scoring on a few occasions, namely inside the 52nd minute when goalkeeper Matt Turner was forced into a tremendous double save.
Ultimately, though, the visitors were unable to equalize and Ricardo Pepi sealed things up with a close-range finish deep into second half stoppage time.
Pochettino called it a ‘very professional performance’ after the game.
‘Little by little, [we are] building something – the objective is 2026,’ he continued to the TNT broadcast, calling the performance ‘solid.’
USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino talks with Christian Pulisic during the first half against Panama
Yunus Musah (center) was delighted to score his first USA goal in his 42nd appearance
The match in front of a near-capacity crowd of 20,239 at Q2 Stadium was the first of two friendlies for the US in a four-day span that includes a game against Mexico on Tuesday in Guadalajara.
The Americans ended a four-game winless stretch and their first four-game home winless streak since a seven-game slide in 2010-11.
Pochettino opted for a blend of youth and experience in the starting XI, with 37-year-old Tim Ream occupying one of the center back spots and core players in Pulisic and Robinson also keeping their places.
However, he also opted to play 22-year-olds Gianluca Busio and Aidan Morris in the middle, giving them just their 13th and seventh caps respectively.
Notably, mainstay Weston McKennie was also an unused substitute, while regulars Sergiño Dest, Tyler Adams, Gio Reyna, Tim Weah and Folarin Balogun were also missing through injury.
Pochettino made a raft of second half substitutions as Pulisic, Musah, Busio, Robinson, Josh Sargent and Brenden Aaronson were all hauled off.
Ricardo Pepi scored the second and final goal of the game deep into the second half
Pepi was introduced in the 67th minute before putting the game on ice in the 94th.
Three second-half subs combined for that goal.
Malik Tillman brought down a kick from goalkeeper Matt Turner and passed to Haji Wright, who crossed. A Texas native, Pepi slid the ball through Mosquera´s legs for his 11th goal in 31 appearances – his fourth in three international games in Austin.
‘We’re starting to learn the new coach’s ideas and whatnot, that we executed pretty well,’ Robinson said after the game to TNT.
‘We had more chances [that we could have] put away if we were a bit more clinical, but other than that I think the team stuck to the job well.’
