USA vs Panama Predictions and Betting Tips: Pochettino takes charge of new era

Our football betting expert names his picks and predictions for Saturday night’s 9:00pm ET friendly between the USA and Panama.

After months of delays, Mauricio Pochettino will finally step onto the sidelines at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night as the new head coach of the USA men’s team. The hard work will start for ‘Poch’ immediately, with the USA in dire need of a total reset.

Since Jürgen Klinsmann stepped down in 2016, the USMNT has seen six different coaches lead the side on either a full-time or interim basis. It will be up to Pochettino to set the tone and end this era of uncertainty and underperformance.

However, his first game is against a tricky Panama side who beat the USA during this summer’s Copa América.

USA vs Panama Betting Tips

USA to win & both teams to score @ +260 with bet365
Brandon Vazquez to score anytime @ +210 with bet365
Under 8.5 corners @ -125 with bet365

All odds courtesy of bet365, correct at time of publishing and subject to change.

USA favorites, but not invincible

All eyes will be on Mauricio Pochettino on Saturday night, with fans eager to see what changes he brings to the USMNT in terms of personnel and tactics. After a disappointing year with the team winless in their last four outings, the Argentine will be looking to quickly set a new tone under his leadership.

Pochettino has a strong squad available at his disposal as well, and looks set to overpower a Panama team who have just four wins to five defeats in their nine games so far in 2024.

The USA will also benefit from having played two friendlies back in September, while this match marks the first time Panama have played since they were eliminated from the Copa América in early July.

Even though Pochettino hadn’t been confirmed in time for those September games, the extra training time the squad had together will be a big boost.

Panama won’t be easy opposition for the USA, though. They won when the two sides met during the summer, and have enjoyed a rise up the FIFA rankings to 37th in the world.

Manager Thomas Christiansen has also been in charge since July 2020, giving the Panamanians a sense of continuity and cohesion that the USA lacks.

Expect the USA to win and set the tone for the Pochettino era, but for Panama to still get on the scoresheet.

They have scored in five of their nine games so far this year, in each of the last five meetings against the USA, and are more than capable of getting a goal in defeat against a USMNT still finding their identity.

This market is also far better value than the USA to win outright, which is an unattractive -200.

USA vs Panama Betting Tip 1: USA to win & both teams to score @ +260 with bet365

Vazquez to return with a goal

While Pochettino has a good strength USA squad at his disposal for his first game, he will be missing some key attacking players. Folarin Balogun and Tim Weah, along with midfielder Johnny Cardoso, are all unavailable.

This has lead to Pochettino recalling CF Monterrey striker Brandon Vazquez to the side.

Vazquez has not featured for the USA since the 2023 Gold Cup, however his brief time in the squad then was electric. The Californian scored three times in the Gold Cup, and ended 2023 with four goals in his eight caps.

The usual suspects for the USMNT are all well priced to be an anytime goalscorer, with Ricardo Pepi and Christian Pulisic at +175, and Haji Wright at +187.

However, Vazquez was in fantastic goal scoring form last time he was in the squad, and will be desperate to reclaim his place by netting again here.

USA vs Panama Betting Tip 2: Brandon Vazquez to score anytime @ +210 with bet365

Low corners count forecast

Corners have not been a major part of the game plan for either Panama or the USA so far this year, and that’s reflected with the under/over for total corners in the game being set at 8.5.

Despite this market being lower than usual, it’s still worth going under.

Panama have only had two of their last five matches feature nine or more corners, while the USA have only been involved in one game that broke that threshold in their last five.

Corners were almost a non-factor when the two sides met last time as well, with just three awarded in the entire game.

While new USA boss Mauricio Pochettino may set his side up to play for more corners, it’s unlikely he’ll do anything that triples the amount from the two teams’ last encounter.

USA vs Panama Betting Tip 3: Under 8.5 corners @ -125 with bet365