Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News
It has been some time since the USA men’s national team entered a game without a preview of what they would look like, but that is where the USMNT finds itself ahead of a game against Panama under Mauricio Pochettino. Rumors swirled after Gregg Berhalter was fired over the summer. The hire was finally made official in September and many US fans rejoiced.
Pochettino’s resume is an impressive one, but he faces some stern tasks with the USMNT. The World Cup on home soil is less than two years away and the US has very few competitive games in that time. Furthermore, the morale of the fan base is quite low at the moment. That is understandable, given how wrong things went at the Copa America this year. It is incredibly important for Pochettino to get off to a good start with these two friendlies against Panama and Mexico.
US roster
With this being Mauricio Pochettino’s first game with the US, there was speculation about what the roster would look like. Would he call most of the same players or would there be a huge roster turnover? The answer, so far, appears to be the former.
In goal, the US will have usual suspects Matt Turner and Ethan Horvath. But there does appear to be competition as Pochettino has also recalled Zack Steffen and Patrick Schulte. The back line is mostly familiar names too. Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson, Joe Scally, and Mark McKenzie all have 14 or more international appearances.
In the midfield, the team has Weston McKennie, Brenden Aaronson, Yunus Musah, and Malik Tillman. Pochettino also called up a pair of players in Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann fresh off a knockout round appearance at the Olympics in Paris. And up top, the headliner is Christian Pulisic in addition to Ricardo Pepi, Josh Sargent and Haji Wright.
Injuries played their part in reshaping the roster after it was originally announced. Brandon Vazquez and Alejandro Zendejas were both late additions following injuries by Folarin…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/preview-pochettino-makes-usa-coaching-debut-against-panama/
Author : Lawrence Dockery
Publish date : 2024-10-12 12:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
