The era of Argentine Mauricio Pochettino in front of USA started this Saturday with a hard-fought 2-0 victory in the friendly in Austin (Texas, USA) against Panamadecided by goals from Yunus Musah and Ricardo Pepi in the second half. The United States had to suffer to knock down Panama, but Musah’s first goal as a full international, after a connection between Milan players with Christian Pulisic, and Ricardo Pepi’s eleventh, in added time, allowed Pochettino to get off to a good start .
The Argentine debuted with a duel against an old team known as Panama, the team that beat him 2-1 last June in Atlanta in the group stage of the Copa América and left the Americans shaken. The then team led by Gregg Berhalter would say goodbye to the Copa América, organized at home, through the back door with a defeat against Uruguay on the third day of the group stage.
Berhalter is no longer on the United States bench and has just signed as the new coach of the Chicago Fire. The American team played, with an interim coach on the bench, some gray friendlies in September that ended with a loss against Canada and a draw against New Zealand.
Musah (USA) scored his first international goal
Although it was a friendly, the tension in the United States was noticeable at the beginning of the duel and there were hardly any scoring opportunities in the first half. Brendan Aaronson had the best shot on the brink of half-time, but his cross shot was saved by Orlando Mosquera. But the emotions that were missing in the first half arrived in the second. After just over three minutes, Pulisic closed a one-two with Josh Sargent and placed the cross that his Milan teammate Musah finished at will to increase the score to 1-0. The former Valencia player celebrated the first goal of his international career.
The United States was able to increase the gap a few seconds later, but Mosquera made a great save after a shot by Josh Sargent. And on the other side of the field it was Matt Turner who showed off with two consecutive saves that denied Édgar Bárcenas and José Luis Rodríguez ‘Puma’ a tie.
The great performance of the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper protected the United States’ advantage, which would end the match in the 94th minute, when Haji Wright hit a low cross from the left wing that Pepi finished inside the area for the final 2-0.
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Panama will now face Panama in the second friendly of this FIFA date, with its sights set on the quarterfinal matches of the Concacaf Nations League in November, where the Panamanians await a rival. The United States will face Mexico in their next friendly match.
TECHNICAL SHEET
2 – United States: Turner; Ream, McKenzie, Scally; Robinson, Busio, Moris, Musah; Pulisic, Aaronson, Sargent. Also playing: Wright, Tessmann, Pepi, Lund, Tillman, Zendejas.
0 – Panama: Mosquera; Escobar, Farina, Miller; Murillo, Martínez, Carrasquilla, Blackman; Bárcenas, Guerrero, Puma. Also playing: Welch, Fajardo, Harvey, Godoy, Góndola, Ayarza.
Goals: 1-0, Musah (m. 50); 2-0, Ricardo Pepi (m. 94)
referee: Katia García Mendoza (Mexico). There were no warnings.
Incidents: Friendly match played at the Q2 Stadium in Austin (Texas), in front of nearly 20,000 spectators.
