USMNT opens Poch era, Ronaldo scores and MLS breaks attendance record
Kick your Monday off with all the news from this past weekend
Good morning!
Once again, we start off the week with a look back at some of the biggest stories from this past weekend.
The headliner was the U.S.’s convincing 2-0 win against Panama in a friendly that carried more weight than usual because it marked coach Mauricio Pochettino’s debut as manager.
Here’s a deeper look at this weekend’s major storylines:
USMNT opens Pochettino era with a win
Yunus Musah scored a 49th-minute goal off an assist from AC Milan teammate Christian Pulisic and Ricardo Pepi added a stoppage time strike to close out 2-0 U.S. win over Panama on Saturday night.
The win at Q2 Stadium in Austin, before a near-capacity crowd of 20,239, officially opened the Mauricio Pochettino era. The game — the first of two friendlies for the U.S. in a four-day span that includes a game against Mexico on Tuesday in Guadalajara — ended a four-game winless streak.
The victory was also a good omen for Pochettino, who took over as coach after Gregg Berhalter was fired after this summer’s poor Copa America showing.
Pochettino’s first starting lineup featured the tandem of 22-year-old center midfielders Gianluca Busio and Aiden Morris that anchored the team’s 4-2-3-1 formation.
Pochettino — under contract through the 2026 World Cup that the U.S. will co-host with Mexico and Canada — has been tasked with trying to get the Americans to at least the quarterfinals of that tournament.
“Little by little building something. The objective is 2026,” Pochettino said. “It’s only the first step.”
Ronaldo scores again, helps Portugal to another big win
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his record-extending 133rd international goal to keep Portugal perfect in the Nations League with a 3-1 win against Poland on Saturday.
The 39-year-old star was there to put in a rebound after Rafael Leao’s shot hit the post in the 37th minute. That made it 2-0 following Bernardo Silva’s opener in Warsaw in the 26th minute.
After failing to find the net in his five appearances at the European Championship — with Portugal exiting in the quarterfinals — Ronaldo has now scored in three consecutive Nations League matches, including in wins last month over Croatia and Scotland.
Portugal now leads Group A1 with nine points from three games. Second-place Croatia has six points (after it beat Scotland 2-1 in Zagreb). Poland has three points and Scotland with zero.
“We worked very hard the last few days, preparing various solutions for this game and we were able to show it on the pitch,” Portugal manager Roberto Martinez said. “I am really satisfied because we controlled this game.”
MLS breaks records
Major League Soccer has surpassed 11 million fans to break the league’s regular season attendance record.
With the regular season concluding next Saturday, MLS has already eclipsed the mark of 10,900,804 set just last season.
In announcing the record, the league credited the recent arrivals of international superstars as Inter Miami's Lionel Messi and the creation of "more unique, fan-friendly ticket packages" as the key drivers of the continued growth.
The league is currently averaging about 23,000 fans per game. Boosting that average were crowds of 72,610 to see Messi and Miami play Sporting Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium on April 13 as well as the July 4 crowd of 70,076 at the Rose Bowl for the El Trafico clash between LAFC and the LA Galaxy.
To check out the latest MLS scores, click here.
In other news: Cyprus champion APOEL Nicosia signed its fourth coach in just six months in hope of amping up the team’s lackluster season. Manuel Jimenez of Spain was hired on a one-year contract to replace Jose Manuel Martins Dominguez, who arrived in late August. … Nine years into a World Cup black market tickets investigation, the case against ex-FIFA official Jerone Valcke has been finally closed. The Swiss attorney general’s office said on Friday it has decided to end the criminal proceedings into a tickets deal proposed for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. … In yet another major injury to a star player this season, Spain defender Dani Carvajal underwent surgery on his right knee. Real Madrid called the surgery successful on Friday and said the player would start his recovery process in the coming days. Carvajal suffered his season-ending injury during a La Liga match last weekend. He was diagnosed with a ruptured ACL.