Christian Pulisic stared in frustration after the final whistle and made clear how much work Mauricio Pochettino has ahead.
An 89th-minute defensive mix-up had dropped the United States into a 1-1 tie with New Zealand in a friendly on Tuesday night, a match that kicked off 30 minutes after the U.S. Soccer Federation announced it hired Pochettino to coach the Americans through the 2026 World Cup.
It’s time to turn the page and we really have to pick it up a level, Pulisic said. Everyone is part of this and it feels pretty low right now, but I know there’s better times ahead.
Mikey Varas led the team for the second game as interim coach following the firing of Gregg Berhalter, let go after the Americans’ first-round elimination in the Copa America. The U.S. was coming off Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Canada, the Americans’ first to the Canadians on home soil since 1957.
Pulisic put the U.S. ahead in the 69th minute, 12 minutes after entering, and with 31 international goals moved past Brian McBride for fifth on the U.S. career list. But sloppiness by Caleb Wiley and Mark McKenzie led to Ben Waine’s 89th-minute goal.
Before a crowd of 15,711 in 26,000-capacity TQL Stadium, the U.S. stretched its winless streaks to four games overall and four consecutive home games for the first time since a seven-game stretch in 2010-11.
Pochettino arrives in the U.S. on Wednesday and takes over ahead of exhibitions on Oct. 12 against Panama at Austin, Texas, and at Mexico three days later.
“Everybody is excited for this next chapter. He brings tremendous quality,” Varas said. I’m proud that we moved the program forward a little bit. And Mauricio coming, now it’s going to be accelerated, and I think really good things are ahead of us.
Pulisic scored following an 11-pass buildup that included Chris Richards, McKenzie, Aidan Morris, Marlon Fossey, Luca de la Torre, Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun. After Pepi played the ball to him, Pulisic took touches with his left foot and his right, then slid an angled left-foot shot under defender Bill Tuiloma and past goalkeeper Max Crocombe.
New Zealand’s goal followed Nando Pijnaker playing a long pass more than half the length of the field. The ball bounced off a foot of Logan Rogerson, and Wiley tried a headed clearance but instead centered the ball in front of McKenzie.
McKenzie swung his left leg in another attempt to clear, and the ball ricocheted off Waine and over goalkeeper Matt Turner, who was about 8 yards off his line.
Turner, playing his first match in 10 weeks, put hands on hips and slapped them on his side. Pulisic glared when the final whistle blew after almost 10 minutes of stoppage time.
Pepi, among six changes in the U.S. lineup, appeared to put the U.S. ahead in the 19th minute off a toe-poke feed from Fossey, a right back who made his national team debut one day after his 26th birthduay. But Pepi shoved defender Liberato Cacace just before the shot and Honduran referee Selvin Brown disallowed the goal after consulting with an assistant.
No MLS players started for the seventh time in eight matches. Just eight of 209 starting positions have been been filled with MLS players in the 19 games the full pool has been available since the 2022 World Cup.
Pulisic anticipates Pochettino to institute change.
Hopefully a culture that is willing to fight, that is willing to take risks, he said. There’s a lot of things that need to change, just the mentality and the culture of the group. I think we have the quality but I know hopefully that’s the first thing that he is going to want to change.
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First Published: Sep 11 2024 | 7:02 PM IST
