3 MLS players score to silence USMNT haters after Pochettino's call

There are enough players in the current U.S. national team pool playing at the higher levels of European competition that, for some American fans, seeing any MLS players listed on what is supposed to be a first-choice USMNT squad feels unsettling.

So when Mauricio Pochettino included six MLS names on his squad for the Concaf Nations League games -- including three in the attacking phase -- there were definitely groans, particularly about the collection of strikers assembled, even from those known to be supportive of the United States domestic leagues.

Those groans aren't going to go away just because Brian White, Patrick Agyemang and Diego Luna have all scored for their respective MLS clubs since being named to that 23-man squad. But it's worth noticing how receiving an unexpected call -- perhaps as a reward for a strong showing in Pochettino's January camp of mostly domestic-based players -- can contribute positively to confidence.

Here's how each of them found the net over the past five days.

Brian White's huge goal in Mexico

Some strikers score run-of-the-mill goals in the league after learning they've earned a national team call. Brian White scored what may have been the biggest goal of his club career.

White's 78th-minute tally on Wednesday night in Concacaf Champions Cup play didn't technically hold up as the match-winner. But it gave the Whitecaps the aggregate goals lead and the away goals advantage in their round-of-16 series against CF Monterrey. A late penalty for the hosts meant it finished 2-2 on the night, but Vancouver still progressed in one of the most surprising MLS results in Mexico in its Concacaf history.

Agyemang doubles Charlotte's lead

While Agyemang shined last January camp, there was a bit of growing anxiety in the ranks fo Charlotte fans after he failed to find the net in their first three games of the new league campaign.

That changed early in the second half of Saturday's home match against FC Cincinnati, when some old-fashioned Route 1 football produced this stylish strike to double The Crown's advantage in the Who is the Real Queen City Derby.

Luna's header halts Houston slide

The words Diego Luna and aerial target don't often go together. But the compact attacking midfielder sent a bullet of a header past Houston goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer just before halftime for what would prove to be the game-winner in Real Salt Lake's 2-1 win at the Houston Dynamo.

Luna's first league goal snapped a stretch of eight matches without a win in Houston, a run that dates back to 2018 and included two playoff meetings as well as a U.S. Open Cup semifinal.