AUSTIN, Texas —
If there was any doubt the national soccer team was under new management it faded Saturday when fans arriving at Q2 Stadium for Mauricio Pochettino’s first game as coach were handed a poster bearing his face, the same face that stared out from a red banner behind the south goal.
“It was a massive shock for me,” said Pochettino, U.S. Soccer’s $6 million man, who also received a rousing ovation/welcome from the near-sellout crowd.
For much of the game that followed, however, Pochettino’s team played very much like the one that won just once in its final five matches under his predecessor, Gregg Berhalter.