A heavily-rotated United States men’s national team earned a 3-1 victory over Venezuela in the first of its two international friendlies this month.
Saturday’s U.S. squad was made up almost entirely of players from Major League Soccer due to the game falling outside of a FIFA international window.
Jack McGlynn and Patrick Agyemang scored about two minutes apart late in the first half and Matko Miljevic, whose third-minute penalty kick was saved, struck in the 64th minute.
McGlynn connected on a left-footed strike from about 30 yards in the 37th minute, Agyemang deflected a shot off goalkeeper Wuilker Faríñez not long afterward and the Americans were off and running. Milijevic scored on a counter, joining Agyemang to raise the total to 61 players who scored in their U.S. debuts.
The result means manager Mauricio Pochettino has now won four of his five games since he took charge in September — his lone defeat came in a friendly against Mexico in October.
The USMNT will be in action again when it faces Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Carl Kafka/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
DaMarcus Beasley, Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, DeAndre Yedlin and Landon Donovan are among the players whose national team careers were boosted by January camps.
The U.S. controlled much of the match and had a chance to grab the lead after Daniel Pereira‘s foul in the penalty area. Miljevic, a Miami-born forward, didn’t have much on the spot kick he tried pushing past Faríñez’s left side.
Six U.S. starters made debuts before a crowd of 18,008: left back Max Arfsten, central defender George Campbell, wingers Brian Gutierrez and Carden Clark, along with Miljevic and Agyemang at forward. Emeka Eneli and Indiana Vassilev made debuts in the second half.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.