Category: USMNT

USMNT announces October friendly vs. Mexico in Guadalajara

The teams will meet at the Estadio Akron, one of Mexico’s three World Cup 2026 venues

The U.S. men’s national team has announced it will face Mexico in a friendly on October 15 in Guadalajara.

The match will take place at the Estadio Akron, home to Liga MX power Chivas, and one of the three venues in Mexico hosting matches in the 2026 World Cup.

Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m. ET, with the game set to be broadcast on TNT and Max. 

The match looks likely to be the second in charge for Mauricio Pochettino, with the Argentine and U.S. Soccer reportedly reaching an agreement over a deal to take over as USMNT head coach.

The move hasn’t been announced yet, and ESPN has reported that ex-U.S. under-20 head coach Mikey Varas is set to lead the team as an interim for two September friendlies.

That would make Pochettino’s debut as USMNT head coach an October 12 friendly against Panama in Austin, Texas, which will be followed by a trip to Mexico.

USMNT on record run vs. Mexico

The game in Guadalajara will give the USMNT a chance to build on a program-record run of seven matches unbeaten against El Tri.

The two sides most recently met in March, with the USMNT easily defeating Mexico 2-0 in the Nations League final.

Though the USMNT and Mexico meet on a frequent basis, the occasion rarely happens south of the border.

Of the past 16 meetings between the USMNT and Mexico, only two have been in Mexico: World Cup qualifying matches in 2017 and in 2022, which both ended in draws. The last friendly between the two teams in Mexico was in 2013.

Each team is coming off a disappointing Copa América group-stage exit, with both sacking their managers in the wake of the summer tournament.

Mexico fired Jaime Lozano last month, and later confirmed the appointment of Javier Aguirre for a third stint as head coach.

The USMNT, meanwhile, sacked Gregg Berhalter and now appears on the verge of naming Pochettino as his successor.

[lawrence-related id=80097,79928,80081]

Musah sparks stunning AC Milan comeback vs. Torino with assist

Pulisic overcame an injury to suit up for Milan, but Musah ended up making the bigger impact in a dramatic late comeback

Yunus Musah played a major role as AC Milan escaped a potentially troubling start to the 2024-25 Serie A season.

The U.S. men’s national team midfielder came off the bench to notch an assist in stoppage time as the Rossoneri recovered from a two-goal deficit after 88 minutes to secure a 2-2 draw with Torino.

Saturday’s clash was a debut for new manager Paulo Fonseca, but it looked destined to be an opener to forget for Milan. Malick Thiaw’s 30th-minute own goal seemed to suck the air out of the San Siro, and — moments after a Milan penalty was overturned by VAR — Duvan Zapata made it 2-0 to the visitors.

Fonseca turned to his bench, first giving Spain striker Álvaro Morata his competitive debut before bringing Musah on for his USMNT teammate Christian Pulisic.

Largely setting up at right back, Musah played a major role as Milan conjured up a stunning late escape. Opta credited him with playing a part in a whopping seven shot attempts after entering the match in the 73rd minute.

First, the 21-year-old’s long-range effort eventually became Morata’s first Milan goal. Musah struck with power, only for a Torino defender to provide a block. The rebound fell to Tijjani Reijnders, who fizzed a ball in for the veteran striker to calmly guide home in the 89th minute.

Musah was a bigger factor in the equalizer. Receiving the ball in space on the right, the USMNT midfielder swung in an inch-perfect cross for Noah Okafor, who didn’t have to break stride to volley past Torino’s Vanja Milinković-Savić.

Pulisic, meanwhile, started as Milan’s No. 10 on the day, a possibility Fonseca discussed coming into the season.

While Saturday wasn’t the USMNT star’s best day at the office — his last action of the match was a shot over the bar from point-blank range — it will come as a relief nonetheless. Pulisic was an injury doubt heading into the match, with his status unclear until Milan released its starting lineup on the day.

Watch Musah’s dramatic late assist

[lawrence-related id=80114,80108,79932]

Amid transfer interest, USMNT’s Sargent off the mark for Norwich City

Sargent showed why Norwich City is reportedly placing a $25 million valuation with his first goal of the Championship season

Josh Sargent isn’t letting the transfer rumors swirling around him distract from his job at Norwich City.

The U.S. men’s national team forward scored his first goal of the 2024-25 season, offering up a powerful finish in what became a 2-2 Championship draw with Blackburn.

Sargent also provided an assist as the Canaries took a second-half lead through Borja Sainz, but Norwich had to settle for a point after Yuki Ohashi’s late equalizer for the visitors.

With his side trailing 1-0 in the 65th minute, Sargent made his mark. Defender Callum Doyle’s clever pass found the USMNT man in a seam in Blackburn’s defense, but Sargent still had plenty to do.

Facing a somewhat tricky angle, Sargent could have cut the ball back, or tried to round his man to get to the endline for a cross. Instead, the 24-year-old called his own number, smashing a left-footed rocket past goalkeeper Aynsley Pears.

Sargent would do much of the heavy lifting as Norwich took the lead eight minutes later. The Missouri native won the ball at midfield, pushed into the Blackburn half, instigated a one-two to break through the visitors’ back line, and zipped a low cross in for Sainz to finish on the doorstep.

The good second half made up for a first half in which Sargent, by his own coach’s account, should have had a hat trick. However, Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup praised Sargent for brushing off the misses and getting the job done.

“We made some adjustments at halftime and came out way stronger in the second,” said Hoff Thorup. “Imagine [Sargent] going in at half-time knowing he could have scored a hat-trick? But he kept on going and showed the right attitude.”

Sargent will be hoping he can be just as prolific this season as he was last year. Despite missing a long spell due to ankle surgery, Sargent scored 16 times in 26 league appearances for the Canaries, at one point scoring 11 goals over a 14-game span.

That good form sparked some significant transfer interest in Sargent. GiveMeSport reported that FC Cincinnati offered as much as $20 million to bring the USMNT forward to MLS, only for Norwich to insist on a valuation over $25 million. Earlier this week, The Athletic reported that St. Louis City is also interested in Sargent’s signature.

Watch Sargent score his first goal of the season

[lawrence-related id=80108,75489,79830]

USMNT left back Robinson praises impending Pochettino hire

The ex-Chelsea boss is closing in on taking over the USMNT

Mauricio Pochettino may not officially be U.S. men’s national team head coach yet, but one of the team’s key players is already praising his arrival.

Multiple reports this week have said that Pochettino and U.S. Soccer have reached an agreement for the Argentine to take over the USMNT. The hire will be made official when the final details between the coach and his former club Chelsea are ironed out.

In the meantime, Robinson became the first USMNT player to react to the hire, as NBC Sports quizzed him following Fulham’s season-opening loss to Manchester United on Friday.

“Good,” Robinson said when asked about his reaction to the former Chelsea, Tottenham and PSG coach taking over for Gregg Berhalter.

“He’s a very good manager, so I’ll be interested to see obviously how he comes in, how he gets used to the boys, how we get used to him.

“It’s a fresh start now, obviously eyes are going to be on the World Cup and he’s got two years to get the best out of us that we can and we gotta give it everything for him, so that he can be successful with us.”

The USMNT will face Canada and New Zealand in a pair of friendlies on September 7 and 10, with the team expected to use an interim manager for the games. Pochettino could make his debut as U.S. boss during the October international window.

Watch Robinson react to Pochettino hire

[lawrence-related id=79986,79928,79919]

USMNT prospect Bajraktarevic named to Bosnia and Herzegovina roster

The USMNT looks to have lost out on one of MLS’s best prospects

Bosnia and Herzegovina has handed a first senior call-up to New England Revolution attacker Esmir Bajraktarevic.

The 19-year-old has been named to the country’s 26-man roster for upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against the Netherlands on September 7, and Hungary three days later.

Bajraktarevic has only represented the U.S. at the international level thus far, playing at several youth levels and making his senior debut this January against Slovenia.

The Revs star’s parents fled Bosnia in the early 1990s amid a devastating war, eventually settling in Wisconsin where Bajraktarevic was born and raised.

At a press conference on Friday, Bosnia and Herzegovina national team director Emir Spahić said that the player’s choice was clear, despite his previous representation of the United States.

“With Esmir Bajraktarevic and his father, the story from the start went in only one direction, and that is the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Spahić said. “Without a single moment of doubt, he had only one wish and that is why he is here.”

Should Bajraktarevic play for Bosnia and Herzegovina in either of its Nations League matches, he would not be permanently tied to the European nation. However, FIFA regulations would require him to wait three years before he would be able to play for the USMNT again.

[lawrence-related id=77416,67812,57599]

Howard unloads on ex-USMNT boss Klinsmann: We won in spite of him

“He specialized in fluff and philosophical rhetoric. But there was zero soccer”

Tim Howard apparently didn’t much like playing for Jürgen Klinsmann.

The former U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper unloaded on his former coach in an article for the Daily Mail, saying that the team won in spite of the German manager.

Klinsmann was in charge of the USMNT from 2011 to 2016, a period during which Howard was usually the team’s starter in goal.

The ex-Germany coach’s time in charge of the U.S. was full of highs and lows. He led the team to the 2013 Gold Cup before guiding them out of a difficult group at the 2014 World Cup.

But Klinsmann’s methods and popularity with his players were always in question, and he left two games into a World Cup qualifying cycle that ended with the team shockingly missing out on the 2018 event in Russia.

Howard’s column in the Daily Mail was ostensibly about the USMNT reportedly closing in on hiring Mauricio Pochettino, who would be the team’s first foreign coach since Klinsmann.

But in addition to praising the rumored new hire, the USMNT legend had a lot to say about his former coach. For example:

He organized a lot of team excursions. He specialized in fluff and philosophical rhetoric. But there was zero soccer.

We went to Versailles, we went to the 9/11 memorial, we went on boating trips. He made us come into lunch and sing the national anthem. He dictated when we slept and when we woke up. He decided what we wore.

He replaced sugary snacks and enforced tighter curfews. He tried to change our breathing, he sent us on ’empty stomach runs’ at dawn. He hired people and literally made up staffing positions for them.

Jurgen tried to reinvent the wheel but he didn’t teach us a lot of soccer. So we had to on rely on the likes Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Jozy Altidore to bring the team together and win games – in spite of the manager.

The lesson for Pochettino to learn from Klinsmann? Understand the American player. Don’t make it about yourself. Every culture has different nuances – wherever you coach around the world. So, yes, players have to be pushed out of their comfort zone, but you have to learn what makes people tick.

After leaving the USMNT, Klinsmann had a brief stint in charge of Hertha Berlin before he took over as South Korea manager last year. The 60-year-old was sacked in February after the Taegeuk Warriors were eliminated by Jordan in the Asian Cup semifinal.

[lawrence-related id=45491,32733,76722]

Reports: Mauricio Pochettino to be named USMNT head coach

The hire would be a massive statement ahead of the 2026 World Cup

The U.S. men’s national team may have its new head coach.

According to journalist Iván Kasanzew, U.S. Soccer and Mauricio Pochettino have reached an agreement for the Argentine to become the new coach of the USMNT.

That report was later corroborated by several others, including ESPN, GIVEMESPORT and The Athletic.

The hire would be a massive statement ahead of the 2026 World Cup, with Pochettino having developed a reputation as one of the world’s top club coaches during his time at Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

Pochettino, 52, is currently a free agent after leaving Chelsea by mutual consent in May.

Last week, The Athletic reported that Pochettino was emerging as the favorite for the USMNT head coaching position, which has been vacant since Gregg Berhalter was sacked last month.

U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker has worked with Pochettino before, with the Welshman serving as Southampton’s academy manager in 2013 when Pochettino was hired as head coach.

Pochettino has never managed in the international game before, but told Sky Sports in 2022 that he would be open to the idea.

[lawrence-related id=79837,79646,79500]

Ream: Charlotte FC move shouldn’t knock me out of USMNT picture

The center back has returned to MLS 12 years after he initially departed the league

Tim Ream believes that his recent move to Charlotte FC should not mean his U.S. men’s national team career is in jeopardy.

The veteran defender signed with the MLS side last week, ending a nine-year stint with Fulham.

Ream has become a vital part of the USMNT during the latter portion of his career, as a renaissance at Fulham over the past two seasons led to him starting every game at the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Copa América.

But a move back to MLS may be detrimental to his USMNT future, with former coach Gregg Berhalter mostly phasing out players from the North American top flight in recent years.

Of the 26 players on Berhalter’s Copa América roster this summer, only three were based in MLS.

Though Berhalter is gone, the USMNT is likely to remain heavily Europe-based under his successor.

Ream spoke to the media on Tuesday and declared his intention to remain part of the USMNT player pool under whichever coach comes in to replace Berhalter.

“I think there is no reason that I should not be [considered],” Ream said. “I understand that playing is an important part of that. I’m not going to take myself out of the hat just because people want me to or people think I’m too old. I don’t see the point of that.

“Like I said before, it’s a matter of just continuing to put my head down [and work], and if I get picked, I get picked. If I don’t, I don’t. It’s one of those things that partially under my control and partially not.”

Ream, who turns 37 in October, is looking to regain a regular role at his club after losing his starting spot at Fulham in the second half of last season. Still, Ream said that the Premier League club wanted him to stay for the upcoming season.

“The day after the season finished, I sat down with Marco [Silva, head coach] and we had a good chat,” Ream said. “They wanted me to stay. They tried to push me to stay and really think about it. But, it’s not so much that if I get something in my head that I go for it, but I really think through things.

“We had really thought through this whole move. For us, personally, as a family, it was the right thing to do. It was time to move on.”

[lawrence-related id=79646,79629,79500]

Pochettino reportedly emerges as favorite for USMNT coaching job

Hiring the Argentine manager would be a major statement by U.S. Soccer

Could Mauricio Pochettino be the answer for the U.S. men’s national team?

The former Tottenham, PSG and Chelsea head coach may well be, according to a report in The Athletic that says he is emerging as the favorite for the vacant USMNT head coaching position.

The report states that U.S. Soccer is in talks with the Argentine’s representatives, and some view him as the front-runner for the job.

Pochettino left Chelsea by mutual consent in May, following just one season in charge. His departure was somewhat surprising despite a difficult campaign, as the Blues put together a late-season surge that saw them finish sixth.

The 52-year-old began his coaching career in Spain with Espanyol before moving to England and taking over Southampton and then Tottenham.

It was at Spurs where Pochettino built his reputation as one of the world’s leading club managers, taking the north London side to the 2019 Champions League final while leading the club to three straight top-four finishes in the Premier League.

Pochettino has never managed in the international game before, but told Sky Sports in 2022 that he would be open to the idea.

USMNT to use Varas as interim in September

U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker has said he would like to have a new head coach in place by September.

But as the coaching search continues, the chances decrease that a new boss will take charge of games against Canada on September 7 and New Zealand three days later.

In its report on Pochettino, The Athletic said that U.S. Soccer is planning on using Under-20 men’s national team boss Mikey Varas as an interim head coach for those two matches.

The USMNT position has been vacant since Gregg Berhalter was dismissed last month in the wake of the team’s stunning group-stage exit at the Copa América.

[lawrence-related id=79500,79416,79380]

Hoffenheim boss Matarazzo reportedly offered USMNT job

Could the USMNT be set to hire the New Jersey native?

Could the U.S. men’s national team be closing in on its new head coach?

That appears to be the case, per two reports out of Germany that strongly link Hoffenheim’s Pellegrino Matarazzo to the vacant position.

According to Kicker, Matarazzo has been offered the USMNT head coaching job and is still undecided, though he is open to to the position.

Bild was more emphatic, reporting that Matarazzo has already informed Hoffenheim that he wants to leave to take the USMNT job.

The time may be right for Matarazzo to seek out a change, as Hoffenheim is currently in the midst of some upheaval that has recently seen the club sack managing director for sport Alexander Rosen.

Matarazzo was born and raised in New Jersey before he moved to Europe for a playing career spent in Germany’s lower divisions. After retirement, Matarazzo began a coaching career that saw him earn his first head coaching role in 2019 with Stuttgart.

The 46-year-old impressed with his work at Stuttgart, and just guided unfancied Hoffenheim to a seventh-place Bundesliga finish and a European place.

Matarazzo even expressed his interest in the USMNT position last year when it was vacant, saying: “At some point, I do feel like it’s time to give back to soccer in the States but when that time will be we’ll see.”

The USMNT position has been vacant since Gregg Berhalter was dismissed last month in the wake of the team’s stunning group-stage exit at the Copa América.

[lawrence-related id=79299,78850,78390]