The U.S. men's national team defeated Jamaica 1–0 in the first leg of its Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal in Mauricio Pochettino's first competitive game in charge.
Christian Pulisic dazzled in the opening minutes coming close to receive the ball in attack before playing a clinical through ball to Ricardo Pepi. The striker beat Andre Blake slotting the ball in off the far post. It was the perfect start from Pepi as the team needed a better performance after the October loss to Mexico.
Jamaica nearly had one back right away after Matt Turner fouled Shamar Nicholson, but the USA goalkeeper made a wonderful save to deny Demarai Gray. The attempt was at a nice height for Turner, but it was hit with pace and he still had to guess correctly.
The USMNT had to weather the storm in the second half—including a potential handball that could've been called in the second half—but it can head to CITYPark in St. Louis, Missouri confident in front of a home crowd of advancing to the semifinals. Doing so in Pochettino's first two competitive games will build heaps of confidence not only in the rest of the tournament, but also in his project moving forward.
