A defensive error by Caleb Wiley and Mark McKenzie led to Ben Waine’s 89th-minute goal to give New Zealand a 1-1 draw in a friendly against the United States on Tuesday night after Mauricio Pochettino was hired as the Americans’ coach until the 2026 World Cup.
Christian Pulisic scored a goal in the 69th minute in the second game under interim coach Mikey Varas.
After their first home defeat to Canada in 1957, the Americans stumbled just before the final whistle and will enter the Pochettino era next month with a four-game winless streak dating back to the first-round exit from the Copa América that cost Gregg Berhalter his job.
Thirty minutes before kickoff, the US Soccer Federation announced that Pochettino would take charge of the team for the friendlies against Panama on October 12 and in Mexico three days later.
New Zealand scored after Nando Pijnaker played a long ball over half the pitch. The ball bounced off a foot of Logan Rogerson and Wiley attempted to head the ball clear but centred it in front of McKenzie. He swung his left leg on another attempted clearance and the ball bounced off Waine and over goalkeeper Matt Turner, who was about 8 metres off his line.
Turner, playing his first game in 10 weeks, put his hands on his hips and slapped his side in frustration. Pulisic stared in frustration as the final whistle blew after nearly 10 minutes of stoppage time.
Varas made six changes to the lineup compared to Saturday’s 2-1 defeat.
Pulisic came on as a substitute in the 57th minute for his first time since February 2022 and scored his 31st international goal, overtaking Brian McBride for fifth on the U.S. career list.
His goal came after an 11-pass buildup that included Chris Richards, McKenzie, Aidan Morris, Marlon Fossey, Luca de la Torre, Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun. After Pepi played the ball to him, Pulisic touched it with his left and right foot before slotting an angled left-foot shot under defender Bill Tuiloma and past goalkeeper Max Crocombe.
Pepi appeared to put the U.S. ahead in the 19th minute with a toe-kick from Fossey, a right-back making his national team debut. But Pepi shoved defender Liberato Cacace just before the shot and Honduran referee Selvin Brown disallowed the goal after consulting an assistant referee.
Fossey, a right-back, made his international debut a day after his 26th birthday.
For the seventh time in eight games, no MLS player was in the starting lineup. In the 19 games in which the entire squad has been available since the 2022 World Cup, only eight of 209 starting positions have been filled by MLS players.
This story uses information from The Associated Press.
