The Athletic FC: USMNT, Canada and…. Thierry Henry stunned; what has Tuchel been up to?

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Hello! A bad night for the USMNT. A great night for Cecilio Waterman. A surreal night for Thierry Henry.

Coming up:

🇺🇸 Poch’s first U.S. setback

🇲🇽 Jimenez beauty sinks Canada

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The lesser-spotted Tuchel

🇫🇷 Modric scolds Mbappe

USMNT upstaged: Echoes of Berhalter era as Pochettino fails Panama test

(CBS Sports)

Here’s a lesson in learning to walk before you go wild and run.

A few days ago, Mauricio Pochettino was talking (hypothetically, sure) about the USMNT winning the World Cup and morphing into the planet’s top dogs. Then along came the Nations League Finals to hit him hard with a dose of smelling salts.

The semi-final against Panama was Pochettino’s first test as U.S. boss, the first high-stakes moment for a high-end, highly paid head coach. And last night, the USMNT melted, beaten in the semi-finals by Panama with virtually the last kick. What’s the Spanish for ‘false start’, or ‘give me strength’?

A bristling Pochettino let his hands go afterwards. “You’re the USA but you cannot win with your shirt” was not far off a warning about arrogance. The headline from our report — ‘Same Berhalter-era woes linger…’ — says it all because the purpose of hiring Pochettino was to shake off Gregg Berhalter’s limits.

These are early days and there’s a long game to be played (Tyler Adams did his best to deflect blame from his head coach), but yesterday’s 1-0 defeat won’t go down well. It came in the 94th minute via Panama’s only shot on target, a goal that generated a lovely moment: Cecilio Waterman threading the eye of the needle brilliantly and then sprinting off to find CBS analyst Thierry Henry at pitchside.

Waterman shouted ‘eres mi idolo’ in Henry’s face — “you are my idol” — and a hysterical Henry loved it. The pair of them will treasure the evening. Pochettino would prefer not to speak of it again.

Jimenez ends Canada hopes

(CBS Sports)

The line-up for Sunday’s final is the one we didn’t predict: Panama versus Mexico after Javier Aguirre’s team saw off Canada in yesterday’s later kick-off.

If truth be told, that contest was more of a 50-50 on paper and Canada had no way around two Raul Jimenez goals, the first scored after 45 seconds and the second, above, a beast of a free kick. But the 2-0 defeat represents a backwards step for a side who had been making tangible progress.

Realistically, Canada’s prospects at the 2026 World Cup are limited. The USMNT, in contrast, hired Pochettino with the ambition of making waves. Their experiences at last year’s Copa America and now the Nations League Finals (where Panama beat them both times) are painful punches in a cycle where all roads lead the USMNT back to square one.

• After a false start, Brazil are laughing all the way to World Cup qualification and they knocked the dangerous Colombians down a peg last night, courtesy of a 99th-minute winner from Vinicius Junior. Raphinha then stopped Vinicius Jr from getting booked for time-wasting, a yellow card that would have ruled him out of next week’s ruck with Argentina. Good lad.

News round-up

• On the subject of Raphinha, La Liga has said no to Barcelona’s request to move their domestic clash with Osasuna from next Thursday, March 27. It means Raphinha will almost certainly not make it back from South America in time to feature, which seems farcical.
• The International Olympic Committee has voted in Kirsty Coventry as its first female and African president. She’ll be in charge in 2028 when Spain and the USWNT defend the men’s and women’s Olympic soccer gold medals.
• We talk a lot about football club valuations in TAFC, so I wanted to point you to a comparison in the NBA: the Boston Celtics selling for a cool $6.1billion (£4.7bn) yesterday. If you’d like more of the juice on this, sign up to The Bounce newsletter. They’re all over it.
• And wouldn’t you know, Dan Friedkin, of The Friedkin Group that controls Everton and Roma, is being touted to launch an NHL expansion franchise in Houston.

Remember me? Tuchel taking charge of first England game after surprise selections

(Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

There’s a train of thought that says the England team aren’t broken, ergo they don’t need to be fixed. World Cup semi-finalists, World Cup quarter-finalists and European Championship runners-up twice: the past eight years were no car crash.

Scratch below the surface, though, and a refresh was called for. Gareth Southgate looked jaded at last summer’s Euros and so did his tactics. The harmony of his squad — the pillar of everything he built as national manager — was sliding out of tune. Time to go, which he did.

But if the expectation was that his successor, Thomas Tuchel, would rip it up and start again, the German has confounded everybody. He took the job in October. He hasn’t overseen a single game. In preparation for his first against Albania at Wembley tonight, he dug up two Southgate favourites who we assumed were permanently buried: Jordan Henderson and Marcus Rashford.

What, then, will Tuchel’s England look like? Is he ready to launch? And what has he been doing for the past six months?

Prince William meeting, anthem absurdity

In fairness to Tuchel’s schedule, there’s been no shortage of networking in the background. The range of meetings listed in this overview of his reign to date runs from Prince William to Southgate, and his choice of squad for this evening was a thorough process.

Tuchel, whose tacit target is to win the 2026 World Cup, started with a long list of 55 names before whittling it down. While the group isn’t a sea-change, he does intend to shift away from Southgate’s maligned, defensive style. He has gone further, claiming England were spooked by the fear of defeat at Euro 2024.

We’ll see what happens in practice because Tuchel is hardly renowned as a white-knuckle man, but he was a Champions League winner at Chelsea and he isn’t troubled by low self-confidence. Perhaps his light-touch approach reflects an unusual scenario, where a team aren’t broken but do need fixing.

• It’s my duty to report that some people are having the feeble debate about whether Tuchel should sing the English national anthem. The idea that it matters is hard to take seriously, but Tuchel saying he has to “earn the right” to sing it is equally absurd. Rory Smith has expertly nailed the stupidity of it all.

Around TAFC

• Liverpool are closing in on the Premier League title. They’re also the most profitable club in the division, with a gain of £136m over the past decade. On top of that, they’ve gone past Manchester United commercially. Chris Weatherspoon looked at how they’re winning on all fronts.
• George Dowell was a capable full-back in his youth, until a car accident aged 17 left him paralysed from the chest down. He used part of an insurance payout to buy the club he was playing for, sixth-tier English side Worthing FC. In this interview, he explains how ownership gave him something to live for.
• Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg was a guest on The Athletic FC Podcast, talking conspiracy theories and the “blame culture” around match officials. He’s not the shy, retiring type and this is worth an hour of your time. It’s free on Apple and Spotify.
• Quiz question: nice and simple — name the last five clubs to win the League Cup for the first time. We’ll bring you the answer here later today and in Monday’s newsletter.

Catch a match

(Selected games, kick-offs ET/UK time)

Friday: World Cup qualifier: Group K — England vs Albania, 3.45pm/7.45pm — ViX/ITV.

Saturday: World Cup qualifiers: Group I — Moldova vs Norway, 1pm/5pm — Fox Sports, Fubo, ViX/Viaplay. Group J — Wales vs Kazakhstan, 3.45pm/7.45pm — Fox Sports, Fubo, ViX/BBC Sport.

MLS (all MLS Season Pass/Apple TV): Cincinnati vs Atlanta United, 2.30pm/6.30pm; Minnesota United vs LA Galaxy, 4.30pm/8.30pm; Sporting Kansas City vs LAFC, 8.30pm/Sunday 12.30am.

Sunday: UEFA Nations League quarter-final second legs (all 3.45pm/7.45pm and Vix/Viaplay): France (0) vs Croatia (2); Germany (2) vs Italy (1)*; Portugal (0) vs Denmark (1)*; Spain (2) vs Netherlands (2).

*also on Fox Sports and Fubo

Concacaf Nations League (both Paramount+/Concacaf YouTube): third-place match: USMNT vs Canada, 6pm/10pm; final: Mexico vs Panama, 9.30pm/Monday 1.30am.

And finally…

Last night’s European internationals weren’t much to write home about, although I did chuckle at Thibaut Courtois — fresh from talking his way back into the Belgian camp — reflecting on his life choices as Belgium’s defence fell apart in a 3-1 loss against Ukraine.

Elsewhere, Spain went all Arsenal by getting Mikel Merino to bail them out in a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, and Rasmus Hojlund denied taunting his idol after pinching Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘siuuu’ celebration in Denmark’s 1-0 win against Portugal. I’m sure CR7 was touched.

Kylian Mbappe’s return for France, however, did not help them avoid a defeat in Croatia. Not only that, but he also got an old-fashioned dressing down from Real Madrid team-mate Luka Modric for what could be politely described as simulation (above). Tut, tut.

(Top photo: Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images)