No stopping Christian Pulisic: USMNT winners and losers from Mauricio Pochettino's debut victory over Panama

AUSTIN, Texas - One major talking point of the U.S. men's national team's victory over Panama Saturday night was tactical tweaks. Rightfully so. Mauricio Pochettino is the man in charge now and the new U.S. manager made his presence and ideas known.

For all of its intricacies and tactical debates, though, sometimes soccer is really simple. For the USMNT, winning games often comes down to one bold strategy: give the ball to Christian Pulisic and watch him make magic.

He made more of it in the 2-0 win. His assist to Yunus Musah was a connection made in Milan, as Pulisic assisted his club teammate's first USMNT goal. The smile on Musah's face was a mile wide. The one on Pulisic's might have been even bigger.

That's the kind of mood Pulisic brings right now. When you're playing at this level, things tend to go your way and, when that's happening for Pulisic, the USMNT is an entirely different team. Pochettino will know that as well as anyone: for this team to succeed, he's certainly going to need his star to... well, be a star.

Pulisic proved, once again, he's that. He'll try again on Tuesday against Mexico. And, based on what we've seen over the last month, it's worth wishing El Tri luck.

GOAL breaks down the winners and losers from Q2 Stadium..