Pochettino era of US soccer begins against Panama, with eyes on 2026 World Cup

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A new era for United States soccer is set to begin, led by an Argentine coach expected to deliver big results at the 2026 World Cup on American soil.

Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino makes his U.S. debut in a pair of friendlies, leading the team against Panama on Saturday night in Austin and three days later against Mexico in Guadalajara.

Pochettino was not around for the first 26 matches of the World Cup cycle while Gregg Berhalter and three interim coaches were in charge. These games are in the first of eight international windows Pochettino will have to evaluate players and develop tactics before the team reports ahead of the 2026 tournament.

Pochettino suggested patience is in order. The coach, his staff and players have spent this week not just training but introducing themselves.

Success will be measured by how well the staff and players get to know each other, being organized and sending a clear message from the staff to the players of expectations.

“Of course, soccer is about to compete and to win. Our fans, for sure they want to win," Pochettino said Friday. "At the same time, they need to understand our first contact with the whole organization, players, we cannot push too much. ... We need to give time to the team to adapt to us.”

Panama beat the U.S. in July in the Copa America after Tim Weah received an 18th-minute red card for punching an opponent. The U.S. has won in Mexico only once, in a 2012 friendly at Estadio Azteca.

Weah is among several injured regulars who will miss these matches, along with Sergiño Dest, Tyler Adams, Gio Reyna and Folarin Balogun, plus occasional starters Johnny Cardoso and Chris Richards.

The U.S. is an automatic qualifier for the 2026 World Cup as co-host with Mexico and Canada. Pochettino's charge is to lead the U.S. deep into a tournament in which it hasn’t reached the quarterfinals since 2002 and the semifinals since 1930.

The 52-year-old Argentine has coached Espanyol in Spain (2009-12), Southampton (2013-14), Tottenham (2014-19) and Chelsea (2023-24) in England, and Paris Saint-Germain in France (2021-22), leaving after winning a league title with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar on the team.

But this is his first time leading a national team. He is the first foreign-born coach of the U.S. team since Jurgen Klinsmann from 2011-16.

“The challenge for us is to create a team,” Pochettino said.

Pochettino's first roster includes Christian Pulisic, who has five goals in seven Serie A matches for AC Milan this season and became the first American to score in four straight games in a top five European League since Roy Wegerle of Queens Park Rangers in September 1990.

Pochettino called Pulisic one of the best attacking players in the world in his current form.

“It’s nice to hear. I still have a long way to go to reach the top, the very top. I think I’m on a good path,” Pulisic said.

But he also has been playing a lot, and Pochettino said Pulisic arrived at training camp tired.

Goalkeeper Zack Steffen, a surprise omission by Berhalter for the 2022 World Cup roster, is back after reviving his career with Colorado following a disappointing stay at Manchester City.

Pulisic and other players used the word “intense” to describe their first training camp with Pochettino.

“Every coach has a different style. The training has definitely been intense ... which has been good. I think we need to figure out exactly how we want to play,” Pulisic said.

As for the expectations for the next two matches?

“I don't like to put expectations. Of course we want to go out and get results. We want to win both games,” Pulisic said. “But the main thing is getting to know each other and feeling comfortable as staff and as players, and just feeling confident moving forward for bigger events to come.”

Defender Tim Ream, at 37 the oldest player on the roster, said this week the players were ready to soak it all in.

“The message is that he wants to win, right? (Pochettino) has his principles, he has his ideas, but at the end of the day, it’s about winning,” Ream said. “And you know, it's important to have that mentality. It’s important to have that mindset going forward and leading into these games and beyond that.”

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United States defender Tim Ream stretches with the team during practice, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas, as the U.S. men's national soccer team prepares play Panama in an international friendly on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

United States' Christian Pulisic, front, stretches with the team before practice, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas, as the U.S. men's national soccer team prepares play Panama in an international friendly on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

AC Milan's Christian Pulisic celebrates after he scored during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Lecce at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

United States' Christian Pulisic speaks to the media, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas, as the U.S. men's national soccer team prepares play Panama in an international friendly on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

United States coach Mauricio Pochettino, right, and first assistant coach, Jesus Perez, wait for the team to join the pitch before practice, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas, as the U.S. men's national soccer team prepares play Panama in an international friendly on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

United States head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, takes a seat before speaking to the media, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas, as the U.S. national men's soccer team prepares play Panama in an international friendly on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

United States head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, takes a seat before speaking to the media, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Austin, Texas, as the U.S. national men's soccer team prepares play Panama in an international friendly on Saturday. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said new explosions hit its headquarters Friday, injuring two peacekeepers, a day after Israeli forces targeted the same position and struck central Beirut.

Earlier Friday, cross-border fire from Lebanon killed a young man from Thailand who was working on a farm in the north of Israel.

At least 22 people were killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut on Thursday night, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The air raid was the deadliest attack on central Beirut in over a year of war, hitting two residential buildings in neighborhoods that have swelled with displaced people fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere in the country.

The strikes came as Israel escalates its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground invasion at the border, after a year of exchanges of fire between the two rivals.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Here is the latest:

BEIRUT — At least eight people were killed in intensified airstrikes across villages in southern and eastern Lebanon on Friday evening, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

An Israeli airstrike on Baysarieh, a village in Sidon province, killed three people, including a 2-year-old and a 16-year-old, and injured three others, the health ministry said.

In Baalbeck-Hermel province, located in the Bekaa Valley, five more people were killed and five others wounded in additional airstrikes.

On Thursday, 22 people were killed and 117 wounded in two Israeli strikes on two locations in central Beirut. The strike caused the collapse of two residential buildings housing families and displaced individuals.

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. humanitarian officials say aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months and warn that critical aid lifelines into northern Gaza, where Israel has renewed its offensive, have been cut off.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq delivered the grim news Friday, saying the main crossings into the north have been closed and no food or other essential supplies have entered since Oct. 1.

More than 400,000 people who remain in the north are under increasing pressure to move south, Haq said.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, COGAT, said in a statement that “Israel has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid” in the north.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian organization MedGlobal, which has worked in Gaza since 2018, said Friday that the Israeli army’s renewed military action has driven the remaining health care facilities in the north “to the brink of collapse.”

Three hospitals with hundreds of patients including children in intensive care — Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda and the Indonesian Hospital — have been ordered to evacuate by Israeli authorities and are on the verge of running out of fuel.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan and MedGlobal’s lead physician in Gaza, said Friday that the hospital just received “numerous injuries and fatalities due to the targeting of Al Naji area.” The hospital’s intensive care unit is overcrowded and the “catastrophic situation … will worsen in the coming hours if there is no fuel for emergency services,” he said in a statement.

On the overall dire situation throughout Gaza, Haq said the U.N. World Food Program reports that it has been unable to deliver food parcels to the more than 1 million Palestinians who receive them so far this month “due to constrained access of aid supplies.”

In the north, WFP said kitchens, distribution points and bakeries have either been forced to shut down or are at risk of shutting down if the conflict continues, Haq said, adding that the bakeries are also running out of wheat flour.

Despite the challenges, Haq said, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA and its partners are distributing bread, meals and flour to designated shelters and beyond.

Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni said Friday that the Italian government is following the situation of the Italian peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon “with great attention,” reiterating her strong condemnation of the Israeli attacks on the U.N. bases in the area.

The Italian soldiers engaged in the UNIFIL mission “are doing a fundamental, valuable work for the stabilisation of the area, ” Meloni said, speaking at the final press conference of the Med9 Summit in Cyprus. She recalled that the UNIFIL mission’s headquarters and two Italian bases have been hit by gunfire attacks launched by Israeli forces.

“I can’t avoid to go back and condemn what happened. It is not acceptable,” Meloni said, confirming that the Italian government has “strongly protested” to the Israeli authorities over the attacks.

Meloni added that she was also working with her international colleagues on a common initiative to be discussed during the G7 Defense summit, which will take place in the coming days, “to implement our joint efforts to strengthen the Lebanese armed forces.”

WAHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Thursday to discuss Israel’s operations in Lebanon.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Austin reaffirmed ironclad support for Israel’s right to defend itself and reiterated the U.S. commitment to a diplomatic arrangement that safely returns both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the border.

He said Austin emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety of UNIFIL forces in the area and urged Israel to “pivot from military operations to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible.”

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s crisis response unit announced Friday that 60 people were killed and 168 wounded in the past 24 hours, raising the total toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,229 killed and 10,380 wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The casualty toll was notably higher than previous days, with 22 people killed and 117 wounded in two Israeli strikes on two locations in central Beirut. The strike caused the collapse of two residential buildings housing families and displaced individuals.

The crisis response unit report also recorded 57 airstrikes and incidents of shelling in the past day, mostly concentrated in southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.

Some 1,032 centers — including educational complexes, vocational institutes, universities and other institutions — are sheltering 187,000 people, including 39,000 families, displaced by the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, the report said. Among these shelters, 837 have now reached full capacity.

Despite a major border crossing between Lebanon and Syria being out of commission after an Israeli strike hit the road last week, crowds have continued to flow across the border seeking relative safety in Syria. Between Sept. 23 and Oct. 9, Lebanese General Security recorded 317,457 Syrian citizens and 115,044 Lebanese citizens crossing into Syria, the report said.

SAO PAULO — Brazil’s fourth repatriation plane left Beirut for Brazil on Friday, carrying 211 passengers including 12 infants, according to a statement from Brazil’s foreign ministry. The flight is set to land in Sao Paulo on Saturday morning local time after a stop to refuel in Lisbon.

The Brazilian government has evacuated 885 people and 11 pets from Lebanon in one week, the foreign ministry said.

About 21,000 Brazilians live in Lebanon, which is home to the largest community of Brazilians in the Middle East. Two Brazilian adolescents have been killed by Israeli bombardments in Lebanon.

The Brazilian Embassy in Beirut remains in contact with Brazilians and their close family members to organize a new repatriation flight depending on the security conditions, according to the foreign ministry.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Sri Lankan foreign ministry said two Sri Lankan soldiers who were serving in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon were wounded following the attacks on the U.N. base.

“Sri Lanka strongly condemns the attack at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, South Lebanon injuring two Sri Lankan UN peacekeepers. Sri Lanka upholds the obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and inviolability of UN premises at all times," the foreign ministry said Friday.

The U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, said new explosions hit its headquarters on Friday morning and injured two peacekeepers a day after Israeli forces struck the same position. The force has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries.

Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit a building near a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Kafra, Bint Jbeil province, the Lebanese Army said Friday.

Since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed along the border while the Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines.

As Israeli troops made their first forays across the border and Hezbollah responded with rocket fire, Lebanese soldiers withdrew from observation posts along the frontier and repositioned about 5 km back.

On Oct. 3, a Lebanese soldier was killed and another injured in an Israeli strike in Taybeh during rescue operations. On Sept. 30, another Lebanese soldier was killed by an Israeli drone targeting a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Wazzani.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon says new explosions hit its headquarters on Friday morning, injuring two peacekeepers, a day after Israeli forces struck the same position.

The force, known as UNIFIL, said the explosions went off close to an observation tower at its headquarters in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura. One of the injured peacekeepers was taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Tyre, while the other was treated at the site. It did not specify the cause of the blasts.

It also said an Israeli army bulldozer hit the perimeter of another of its positions in southern Lebanon while Israeli tanks moved nearby. Additional peacekeepers were sent to reinforce the position, it said.

Human Rights Watch says the Israeli military's deliberate and repeated attacks on the U.N. peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon are unlawful and amount to war crimes.

The New York-based rights group issued a statement amid widespread condemnation of the attack by Israeli forces on the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, which wounded two peacekeepers a day earlier.

“Any targeting of UN peacekeepers by Israeli forces violates the laws of war and dangerously interferes with UNIFIL’s civilian protection and aid work,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“With over 2,000 people killed and over a million people displaced in Lebanon since mid-September, it is crucial for UNIFIL to be allowed to fulfil its civilian protection and humanitarian functions,” Fakih said.

GENEVA – The U.N. is getting ready for the start a second round of polio vaccinations for children in Gaza next week, and appealed for the implementation of a “humanitarian pause” to enable the campaign.

A first round of vaccinations was concluded last month after the detection of Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years. The new round is due to start on Monday and aims to give a second dose to some 591,700 children.

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in the Palestinian territories, said Friday that a pause in fighting will once again be a “prerequisite” for a successful second round.

He said that “we renew our request for all parties of the conflict to implement this necessary humanitarian pause” in Gaza. He added that this is “particularly critical as new evacuation orders in the north of Gaza are threatening access to hospitals and protection of health facilities and health and community workers.”

VIENTIANE, Laos — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday gave support to Israel’s escalated campaign against Hezbollah, saying it had “clear and legitimate” reasons, but said the U.S. is trying to find a diplomatic solution to the war.

“When the horror of Oct. 7 happened, the next day Hezbollah joined in, trying to create another front in the process,” he told a news conference after attending an annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos.

He said Israel has a “clear and very legitimate interest” in trying to allow the return of its citizens who were evacuated from their homes in northern Israel because of Hezbollah fire. “The people of Lebanon want the same thing,” he said, referring to Lebanese who fled homes near the border to escape Israeli bombardment.

“We believe that the best way to get there is through a diplomatic understanding, one that we’ve been working on for some time and one that we’re extremely focused on right now,” he said.

Blinken said it was also important that civilians are protected amid fighting in Lebanon and Gaza, adding that not enough humanitarian aid is reaching north Gaza and other areas.

JERUSALEM — Cross-border fire from Lebanon killed a young worker from Thailand in the north of Israel early Friday, Israel’s military said.

Israel's military said that the 27-year-old was killed by a rocket that hit farmland. The Thai Embassy in Israel and Israel's paramedic service said he was killed by an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon. The two accounts could not immediately be reconciled.

The man was a farmworker on Kibbutz Yir'on, a communal farm in the north, the embassy said in a Facebook post Friday. The attack also “severely traumatized” another worker.

The embassy was working on getting in touch with the man’s family, a spokesperson for Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a news conference in Bangkok.

The Israeli military said two other civilians were injured in the same incident Friday. Hezbollah claimed one missile attack on a military position in the north Friday morning.

Hezbollah and other militants in Lebanon have been exchanging fire with Israel for the past year. Israel recently escalated bombardment in Lebanon and invaded a strip inside the Lebanese border, vowing to push out Hezbollah fighters.

Friday’s strike was one of the first civilian deaths in Israel since the escalation began in late September. Two Israelis were killed by rocket debris Wednesday. On the Lebanese side, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,400 people in the past three weeks, including fighters, civilians and medical personnel.

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey condemned Israel’s attack on United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, characterizing it as “a manifestation of its perception that its crimes go unpunished.”

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said in a statement Thursday that its headquarters and positions “have been repeatedly hit” by Israeli forces. Two UNIFIL troops were wounded in the attacks.

The Israeli military acknowledged opening fire at a U.N. base in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had ordered the peacekeepers to “remain in protected spaces.”

“The international community is obliged to ensure that Israel abides by international law,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement released late Thursday. “We will continue to support all initiatives within the framework of international law to promote peace in the region.

Turkey contributes to UNIFIL Maritime Task Force with a corvette and five personnel, the ministry said.

A man checks his destroyed house at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese women pass destroyed buildings at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese women pass the destroyed buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers use an excavator to clear the rubble of destroyed buildings as they search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers clear the rubble of destroyed buildings as they search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescue workers stand in front of destroyed buildings, as they prepare to start search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman passes in front of destroyed cars at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A man uses his mobile phone as flames and smoke rise at the scene of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)