Patrick Agyemang repays USMNT patience with Gold Cup game-winner

There are ample situations in international soccer in which Patrick Agyemang would have lost his starting spot by this point, many coaches who would have lost patience with a talented, committed but still-raw striker finding his feet at this level.

Charlotte FC’s rising star missed a big chance for the US men’s national team in the first half of Sunday’s 2-1 Gold Cup Group D win over Haiti at AT&T Stadium, for example, Grenadiers goalkeeper Johny Placide palming away his low shot after a Luca de la Torre pass had sent him clear on a one-on-one breakaway that would have, probably should have pushed the Yanks back into the lead.

Yet that is most definitely not Mauricio Pochettino’s approach to this tournament, and the emerging group he’s chosen to compete in it.

“Patrick is doing a fantastic job for the team. We are so happy with him, all that he gave to the team today and the previous games also,” said the Argentine coach postgame. “He’s a fantastic striker; still room to improve, yes. We are so, so pleased with him.”

Persistence pays off

Despite that 24th-minute miss, and Agyemang’s other unpolished moments in a USMNT kit, the big No. 9 is the only US player to appear in all nine of the program’s matches this year, the first of which was his debut. And Pochettino’s faith was vindicated by the time the final whistle sounded in Arlington, Texas.

Because it was Agyemang who finally found the game-winner, ghosting in behind the Haitian back line to meet a gorgeously-weighted pass from left back John Tolkin, swerving past the advancing Placide and calmly side-footing his finish into the empty net from a sharp angle at some distance. In strictly technical terms, it was probably a more difficult chance than the one he’d spurned before – and that, perhaps, offers a clue as to why Pochettino wants him on the pitch.

“Me and John,” Agyemang explained to FOX’s Jenny Taft postgame, “we talked about that pass, and he played the ball perfectly. And for me, it was like, once I saw the ‘keeper come out, it’s like, ‘compose yourself, take your time.’ And I round the goalkeeper, and once I got there, it was like, just finish, and happily it went in.”

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Faith in Freese

Something similar could be said about Matt Freese. The US and New York City FC ‘keeper gifted Haiti an equalizer nine minutes after Malik Tillman’s early opener, when he shanked a bouncing back pass from Tim Ream straight to Louicius Don Deedson, who immediately punished the error with a firm strike into the far side netting.

It was the proverbial howler, a goalie’s nightmare and a destabilizing setback for a side who’d seemingly been on course for a composed third win of the group stage, thus doing their part to avoid meeting potent Mexico in the quarterfinal stage. Freese is new to the USMNT; ‘Poch’ has previously explained his preference to test him under stress his summer and see how he responds, rather than simply ride longtime starter Matt Turner, who’s a known quantity at this juncture.

The coach wants his squad playing, not overthinking.

“You don’t need to say nothing. That is easy,” Pochettino said when asked about his message to Freese after the error. “The best way to trust in a player is not to tell nothing, not to tell, ‘be careful with this’ or ‘be careful with that.’ No, move on. Remember: the most important action is the next one. If you think in the last one, you are dead, you’re going to do another mistake.

“No, nothing to say, because this type of accident happened, and it’s going to happen in the future. But we are so happy with him and with the quality of our ‘keepers, of course, and in the way that they are supporting each other. And I think that can happen in any ‘keeper.”

Competition stiffens

On paper, the Yanks have cruised into the Gold Cup’s knockout stages just like they always have, since the tourney’s birth in the early 1990s. On grass, this group is finding their way in fits and starts, stumbling and learning, figuring out moments like the Tolkin-Agyemang link-up as they go. It’s not always the most attractive or reassuring process for fans, though Poch seems to be enjoying it.

“We have to improve in everything,” he said in Spanish. “Some more than in others. But I think that in all, we have conceded only one goal in three games [and it was] through an accident; that can happen in football. What leaves me calm is the way that the error, or an accident, has not affected us.”

The margins for error now shrink dramatically. Opponents of a much higher caliber await in the knockouts. Given the slow gelling process underway among his squad, Pochettino might wish to face the very best of the region later rather than sooner.

But he declared otherwise when asked whether he’d rather face Mexico or Costa Rica, who played to a 0-0 draw with El Tri later Sunday evening to finish second in Group A – setting up a quarterfinal showdown with the USMNT in Minnesota next weekend.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me,” he said in Spanish, “because in the end, if you want, are ambitious and you have the mentality to win the Gold Cup, whether you face certain rivals sooner or later is exactly the same. So no. The most important thing is to train, train well, rest, rest well, be efficient in rest and efficient in training to arrive in the best shape. There will be a bit of everything.”