Mauricio Pochettino’s first international break as coach of the United States men’s national team ended with mixed results. The USMNT was able to defeat a Panamanian side that did not punish them for their mistakes, but as the challenge mounted for Mexico, the Red, White and Blue were disappointed to fall 2-0 in Guadalajara.
It’s a shame that their seven-game unbeaten run against Mexico has been dashed at this juncture, but this is also a game that provides an opportunity to look at the whole game. Some things that were problematic under Gregg Berhalter have persisted despite the management change, while others have started to improve, so let’s evaluate Pochettino’s first window in charge of the USMNT.
result
There’s nothing to hide. This is a window where, wisely, we should have had better results. The game against Panama was a solid result as the USMNT got back to basics with a convincing win, but going to Mexico without Christian Pulisic before Mark McKenzie was left out of the lineup during pre-game warmups left the team lacking punch. The USMNT had just one shot on target against Mexico, resulting in a disappointing 0.27 goals total. All xG was created by substitutes Kris Lund, Haji Wright and Brandon Vazquez.
In a way, it shows how far players with depth can go, and not testing Mexico would be unbearable, even if it was a special moment when Andrés Guarado was sent off from the national team. Like Berhalter, Pochettino can’t go out on the pitch and have his players execute the plan, but that doesn’t mean the plan couldn’t have been better in some cases.
Grade: C
tactics
Ahead of the match against Mexico, Pochettino attempted to use a similar system to the one that enabled them to beat Panama. The problem is that Pulisic created the most chances in the Panama game and Mexico, despite their recent struggles, is a much better team than Panama. This resulted in Yunus Musah and Malik Tillman being isolated, and with no one available to give the ball to Josh Sargent, he had to place the ball in the hands of other members of the attack. Instead of taking the ball in areas where we could, we had to keep dropping it deep.
Musa also looked great in his first game, but had to withdraw from the match against Mexico with just 10 touches to his name. It shows just how far off the USMNT drop is without Pulisic, but it will worry Pochettino.
Grade: C
Squad Management
There has been much discussion about Pochettino’s decision to send Jack Steffen, Marlon Posey, Riccardo Pepi, Weston McKennie and Pulisic to their respective clubs to deal with load management and injury issues, but this is his best transfer window. It could be one of the movements. Of course you want to beat Mexico, but if you notice a problem with a member of your squad, it’s important not to push them beyond their limits. England have already had to deal with the loss of Buykao Saka, and if a player like Pulisic were to suffer an injury for the USMNT, it would impact the USMNT’s chances of playing in the Concacaf Nations League and beyond. It will.
No friendly match is worth it and it has forced Pochettino to look at his depth options. If they fail to impress, he may have to work harder than expected to recruit dual nationals. The USMNT’s mode over the past few years has been that these are the guys. The starting XI is good and rivals most teams around the world, but beyond them there are many questions. It’s good for Pochettino to experience it with his own eyes, but now he needs to focus on fixing it. He needs buy-in from the squad to get to the next level, but if he can’t do that under Pochettino, he’s unlikely to progress under any manager.
Grade: A
