It was colder than expected in Orlando on Wednesday but the United States men’s national team brought the heat, defeating Costa Rica 3-0 to close out January camp. Brian White opened the scoring with his first USMNT goal after getting on the end of a great Diego Luna assist and the Real Salt Lake fingerprints continued with Emeka Eneli assisting Caden Clark’s insurance goal in the second half. Patrick Ageymang’s star also continues to rise as he became the first player to score multiple goals during this January camp with his powerful finish coming off the bench.
Luna showed impressive grit during the match after taking an elbow to his face and possibly suffering a broken nose, but he lobbied to stay in the match immediately delivering an assist. Pochettino did say that Luna is someone who will be in consideration for the future which is an important aspect here. Luna is someone who brings something that only Gio Reyna does at the senior level currently. With a direct style of play, great vision, and the ability to link up with attackers, he could be one of the biggest winners of this camp alongside Jack McGlynn and Ageymang.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men continued their perfect start to 2025 and have now scored six goals in two matches while allowing only one. Costa Rica had their chances but Zack Steffen, behind an experienced defense, stood tall to keep them at bay. Pochettino pushed these players beyond their comfort zones by doing things such as using DeJuan Jones in an Antonee Robinson role and Miles Robinson at right back, and while they didn’t always work, it helped accomplish a major goal during this camp.
The manager has been able to learn more about depth players in this roster while leading the longest camp so far during his time as manager. It wouldn’t be surprising to see some of these players end up in the Gold Cup or Concacaf Nations League down the line which would be a truly successful marker for a camp taking place outside of a FIFA international window. Pochettino commented on how the entire team impressed him during this camp which is exactly what you want to hear with him looking at this domestic based roster for the first time.
Next up for the USMNT will be the Conacacaf Nations League semifinals where they’ll face Panama on March 20.
