It’s easy to rattle off reasons Mauricio Pochettino’s first match in charge of the U.S. men’s national soccer team, a 2-0 win over Panama on Saturday night in Austin, should be taken with a cellar of salt.
The runway to the 2026 World Cup, truncated as it may be following the midcycle firing of Gregg Berhalter, remains lengthy. The opponent wasn’t particularly challenging, even if it was the Panamanians who upset the Americans at this past summer’s Copa América and nudged Berhalter out the door. And a slew of U.