Parts of Kingston can get rough after dark, as anyone who’s listened to any amount of reggae music can attest. But the US men’s national team handled their business at Jamaica National Stadium Thursday night, securing a useful road win over the Reggae Boyz that keeps them in the driver’s seat of this two-legged Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal series.
Ricardo Pepi’s vital early goal delivered a 1-0 W in Mauricio Pochettino’s first competitive match in charge of the USMNT, simplifying the Yanks’ task as the scene shifts to Energizer Park, home of St. Louis CITY SC, for Leg 2 on Monday night, where a win or draw will see them through to CNL finals weekend at SoFi Stadium in March.
Here’s three observations from a scruffy encounter at “The Office.”
This was a scrappy, physical affair on a subpar playing surface, as is usually the case for the USMNT’s Caribbean trips. So as homely as the aesthetic aspects of it were, US supporters would be well-advised not to look crossways at the result -- especially with a big home crowd and Philadelphia Union icon Andre Blake in goal for Jamaica, a perennial ace in the hole for the islanders.
In this setting, early goals are priceless. Some quick-thinking creativity from Christian Pulisic carved out space for him to play Pepi through on goal just five minutes after kickoff, and the FC Dallas homegrown product was clinical with his finish.
“I just saw Christian between the lines, and I saw a lot of space in behind. So made a run and just finished it side netting,” Pepi said on the TNT postgame show. “It's a difficult team, of course, but if I position myself in the right spaces, then I'm always going to find space to score a goal.”
Jamaica’s response was immediate, striker Shamar Nicholson roasting Tim Ream and Mark McKenzie on a mazy dribble into the US penalty box – things can get weird in #ConcacafAfterDark – after a costly Joe Scally turnover. Matt Turners’ mistimed claim handed the Reggae Boyz a penalty kick, only for him to claw it right back with an excellent save on Demarai Gray’s spot kick.
That’s one way to survive an would-be ambush like this. How scarce are wins like this? In more than five years under Gregg Berhalter and the assistants who deputized during his brief spell away from the program in 2023, the USMNT won just THREE road games in Concacaf, total – and two of those were against minnows Grenada and Cuba, the other a 4-1 comeback win at Honduras in 2022 World Cup qualifying. By the way: Pepi scored in that game, too.
As new as he is to this part of the world, Pochettino, to his credit, seemed to grasp the fundamental realities described above.
He fielded two deep-lying center midfielders with range and bite in the form of Tanner Tessmann and Johnny Cardoso (alas, the latter had to make way for Malik Tillman just 21 minutes in due to an injury, though not before he played the pass-before-the-pass to Pulisic in the leadup to the goal), and still made sure to include the athleticism and experience of Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah in more advanced roles along the band of three in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Some of the Yanks clearly came to grips with the conditions more quickly than others. But you could see the lessons of the collective journey the core of this squad has lived together as they by and large matched Jamaica’s physicality and squared up when tempers flared.
“You know, we were here to fight,” said Pepi. “We knew it was going to be difficult, but at the end of the day, we got the result, and now it’s time to go take care of it at home.”
Here Pulisic, clad in black boots that matched the scrappy occasion, led from the front, grinding on both sides of the ball and weathering a constant barrage of heavy challenges without losing his composure. Musah was vital in that sense, too, his alert backtracking to deny Mason Holgate an easy tap-in with a last-ditch block as the West Indians pressed hard for an equalizer in the second half.
In the end, it was Jamaica who lost the mental battle, Holgate giving the visitors a late respite by picking up a second yellow card for a professional foul on Pulisic.
When Pepi and Turner spoke to reporters in a virtual media availability on Tuesday, both addressed the limited playing time they’re getting with PSV and Crystal Palace, respectively, and how they’re responding to those challenges at both club and international level.
“I want to be ready when my number’s called upon,” explained Turner, the 2021 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year with the New England Revolution. “In a perfect world, at some point, I'm going to get my break, and I'm going to get a run of games, and I'm going to find that consistency, and I'm going to find that manager that trusts me over everybody else no matter what, and I'll get that rhythm again.”
Said Pepi: “I'm at a point in my career right now where I'm ready – I'm ready to either start, to get more playing time, and I feel like I've been showing that, whether it's at club or national team, that's just how I'm feeling. I'm feeling ready to be the man.
Sure enough, the duo turned out to be Thursday’s chief protagonists, making the plays that defined this match. It’s not hard to imagine Pochettino taking note of their mentality and productivity, and doing exactly what Turner described: Investing another dose of faith in them, starting in Leg 2 in STL.
