There will be no World Cup qualifying crucible for the United States men’s national team. Their country is hosting, so they’re in. That’s how it works.
That spares the players and fans extended months of torment — but the relative lack of pressure also subtracts a vital element of team-building for new head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
For the most part, the USMNT games Pochettino will coach over the 21 months leading up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be friendlies, exhibitions, whatever one prefers to call them.
Isn’t that right, Poch?
(Sure, we’ve just met, but can we call you Poch?)
“There is no friendly game,” Pochettino declared at his introductory news conference Friday in New York. “When I was with Argentina, World Cup, Copa America or friendly, it was always the same: Go and show you’re the best and win the game for your country with pride. Because that’s what it means to be competitive.”
The expectation of excellence was the primary theme as Pochettino met America — and as America met Pochettino.
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Mauricio Pochettino USMNT press conference
Sitting next to World Cup and Olympic champion Cindy Parlow Cone, now the president of U.S. Soccer, he made it clear he views the U.S. women’s national team — which just won its first major tournament under new coach Emma Hayes at the 2024 Paris Olympics — as the standard the men's team should strive to reach.
“In other sports, the USA have great athletes. In other sports, always a winning culture, a winning mentality,” Pochettino said. “In soccer, we need to aspire like many, many sports we have here.
"For me, one of the most important teams we can aspire to be like is the women’s team. I think Emma, for me, is the best coach … the best coach in the world.”
Hayes and Pochettino coached at Chelsea FC in London last season. Hayes coached the women’s team to the Women’s Super League title, accepting the USWNT job in November 2023 but remaining with the club until the season was complete. Pochettino elevated the men's team from the ignominy of an 12th-place finish the prior year to sixth in the Premier League. But following reported disagreements about how the roster was being managed, he and the club mutually agreed to part ways.
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How popular is the USMNT's hiring of Pochettino?
Pochettino, 52, arrives in America to almost universal acclaim, making him the first USMNT coach in forever who will enjoy that luxury. His approach through 40 minutes of fielding questions in English and Spanish featured a sense of joyful optimism that refreshingly began to erode the mountain of negativity built toward the program over the course of the past decade.
And make no mistake: Pochettino is receiving a hefty paycheck , but he is here because he believes.
“If I had to put it into one word, it’s believe,” he said. “We are here because we want to win. We are winners … I think the most important thing is to create something special. To feel something.
"When you arrive to the national team, it’s not because, ‘OK, they called me and we are going to play.’ No. You are going to compete. And compete is completely different than to play.”
It’s not like Pochettino would not have had other options to coach, from leagues in Italy to Spain to England and probably even Saudi Arabia if he wanted a quick sprint to the ATM. He mentioned the ability of the American players on multiple occasions, most directly when he stated: “The talent is there.”
The USMNT is in the midst of a brutal year, though, even if just six months have passed since the squad won its third consecutive CONCACAF Nations League with a 2-0 victory over Mexico.
Since then, the United States were blitzed by Colombia in a pre-Copa America friendly. Timothy Weah’s red card against Panama cost them the opportunity to advance in that tournament. And then the September international window produced a couple of feckless friendly performances against Canada and New Zealand.
Pochettino saw a team with damaged confidence in those friendlies, and he doubtless is aware they also were missing such key players as left back Jedi Robinson, Weah and midfielders Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Gio Reyna, as they either recover from injury or work to establish themselves at their clubs.
Asked about the strengths and weaknesses he has perceived from watching those games and perhaps studying tape as he waited through the extended process of his contract being developed and approved by his team, U.S. Soccer and Chelsea, Pochettino made a firm point.
“I don’t see weakness. Because I don’t like to talk about weakness,” he said. “We’re always positive. I see we have very talented players. Of course the confidence is a bit low after the Copa America, but the thing is, we are going to work to recover.
“It’s a very good generation of players.”
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How good is Pochettino?
Pochettino has an exceptional track record of elevating clubs that were not significantly advantaged. In 2013-14, he elevated Southampton from the previous year’s 14th-place finish to eighth in the Premier League.
In 2016-17, he led Tottenham Hotspur to its second-ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League. Two years later, he had Spurs in the tournament final, which required victories over Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and Ajax.
This is how he has built his coaching career: transforming OK into good, and good into very good. For the USMNT, still just three decades into seriously pursuing a sport in which others have endeavored for a century, the latter might be an outstanding result. Pochettino seems not to be comfortable with such limitations.
The new USMNT head coach acknowledges the challenge before him and embraces it. He also insists there is “potential to do many good things” — for example, continuing to grow the sport in this country.
Contesting the first 48-team World Cup in North America gave U.S. Soccer a chance to attract someone with Pochettino’s achievements. If he can make it here, he can make it anywhere.
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