The United States men’s national team accomplished a feat they've rarely done in recent history. They managed to win a game against a Concacaf opponent not played in the United States.
New head coach Mauricio Pochettino got his first taste of Concacaf road action against Mexico during a friendly in October that saw the USMNT lose 2-0.
On Thursday he righted the wrongs with a 1-0 victory in Kingston, Jamaica, during leg 1 of the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal. Pochettino won his first competitive game road game which hadn’t been accomplished by a USMNT manager in 16 years.
3 - Mauricio Pochettino is the third full-time #USMNT manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996). Undaunted. pic.twitter.com/9VrTvqDhL1
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) November 15, 2024
USMNT fans were also quick to realize that Pochettino had equaled the number of competitive away victories that Berhalter recorded during his five years in charge of the national team.
With the 1-0 win tonight, Mauricio Pochettino matches Gregg Berhalter’s total of road wins in Concacaf play (1).#usmnt pic.twitter.com/IJhbY3MH3d
— Alex Calabrese (@amcalabrese12) November 15, 2024
Berhalter followed the Concacaf philosophy of “draw on the road, win at home” as his USMNT team rarely recorded victories when playing outside the U.S.
Here’s a look at his competitive record for true away games.
Gregg Berhalter Concacaf away record
- L 2-0 vs. Canada (Nations League, Oct. 15, 2019)
- D 0-0 vs. El Salvador (WCQ, Sept. 5, 2021)
- W 4-1 vs. Honduras (WCQ, Sept. 8, 2021)
- L 1-0 vs. Panama (WCQ, Oct. 10, 2021)
- D 1-1 vs. Jamaica (WCQ, Nov. 16, 2021)
- L 2-0 vs. Canada (WCQ, Jan. 27, 2022)
- D 0-0 vs. Mexico (WCQ, March 24, 2022)
- L 2-0 vs. Costa Rica (WCQ, March 30, 2022)
- D 1-1 vs. El Salvador (Nations League, June 14, 2022)
- L 2-1 vs. Trinidad and Tobago (Nations League, Nov. 20, 2023)
Total Record: 1 win, 4 draws, 5 losses
Not great. Berhalter did record a 4-0 victory against Cuba in the Nations League in November 2019, however that game was played on neutral ground in the Cayman Islands which doesn’t count as a true away game.
While Thursday’s 1-0 victory for the USMNT wasn’t pretty and had a cameraman so bored he started spying on a woman’s phone, it was historic in a way.
The USMNT will host Jamaica on Monday at 8 p.m. ET in the return leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals at Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri.
