Austin FC’s Q2 Stadium in Texas was where the curtain was raised on the USMNT’s Mauricio Pochettino era in front of 22,239 in attendance.
In defense, the USMNT set up in a 4-2-3-1. Aidan Morris and Busio are the holding midfielders and Mark McKenzie paired up with Tim Ream to form the center of a back line bookended by Joe Scally on the right and Antonee Robinson on the left.
In possession, the U.S. was in a 3-2-5 with Robinson up the left, and Christian Pulisic rotating back in the center of the field to create space for Josh Sargent up front. Brenden Aaronson and Yunus Musah rotated on the right wing and right midfield with Pulisic and Aaronson acting in a duel 10 role.
In the 30th minute, Fariña flew in with a crunching tackle on Pulisic. Pulisic stayed down for a few minutes holding onto his leg, but got up to carry on.
Too many dangerous turnovers in the center of the field by the U.S. gave Panama some chances on former New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner but the Panamanians didn’t take advantage as both sides entered the locker room scoreless after 45 minutes.
The lack of scoring wouldn’t last for long as Ream looped a precision pass over the defense to Robinson down the left flank early in the second half Robinson rinsed his defender and dished the ball inside to Pulisic.
Pulisic proceed to combine with Aaronson as hes’s running towards the end line and the AC Milan forward crossed the ball to Musah who finished the cross with a right-footed shot into the net in the 49th minute. A jubilant Musah was swarmed by his teammates to celebrate his first U.S. international goal. It looked like a weight had been lifted off the down-on-his-luck Milan midfielder.
Panama turned up the heat on the U.S. as Turner had a double save in the 52nd minute to keep the ball out of the back of the net. Then in the 58th minute, a block by Scally kept the danger away from his keeper.
Changes came in the 67th minute with Busio, Pulisic, Sargent, and Robinson came off and were replaced by Kristoffer Lund, Tanner Tessman, Ricardo Pepi, and Haji Wright. In the 78th minute Aaronson came off and was replaced by Malik Tillman and then in the 85th minute and Alex Zendejas replaced Musah.
In the 90th minute, Turner sent a long ball from a free kick near his own box to Tillman, who passed it out to Wright on the left flank. Wright then found Pepi who scored with a right-footed finish to seal the 2-0 victory.
Panama was dangerous in this match, and nearly matched the U.S. on most shooting statistics. It was the U.S. defense doing just enough to collect a clean sheet and the quality of the U.S. attack that was the difference tonight in Austin.
Poch has plenty of work in front of him to get the U.S. where they need to be, but for now, let the good vibes roll in the USA.