Mauricio Pochettino admits to 'naïvity' when accepting USMNT role having underestimated challenge
· Yahoo Sports
Hired by U.S. Soccer back in September 2024 to guide the U.S. Men’s National Team through the first FIFA World Cup on home soil since 1994, head coach Mauricio Pochettino seemingly didn’t realize exactly the scale of the challenge which laid before him.
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The Argentine, who is best known for his stints in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, and Paris Saint-Germain, was walking into a team that had only recently failed to make it out of the group stage at Copa América behind Panama and Uruguay.
Perhaps their performances at the tournament should have served as a warning sign of how much needed to be done to maximise the potential from an undoubtedly talented generation of players, but it appears this wasn’t the case for Pochettino.
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“Maybe we didn’t feel or saw how difficult was going to be the process. We were so naïve when we signed the contract,” he recently told reporters, via USA Today. “We misjudged the situation. It was worse than we really believed.”
Once Pochettino’s tenure began, with just under a year and a half to go until the U.S. was set to co-host the World Cup along with Mexico and Canada, he arrived knowing that time was not on their side and the pressure was on to deliver quickly.
“We don't say that we have better standard, better culture, better habit. We came with different things and we wanted to make the things how we really feel, and that is always a process to change,” Pochettino said.
“If you have the habit to every morning to go [somewhere] and someone say, 'No, you cannot go there,' you are going to fight because it was your comfort zone and you say, 'No, I want my comfort zone.'”
It’s been a rocky road since Pochettino took charge, losing their previously vice like grip on the CONCACAF Nations League title in dramatic style with a 1-0 defeat to Panama in the semi-final before losing to Canada 2-1 in the third-place playoff.
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The subsequent Gold Cup, which featured numerous up and coming stars in a new look roster, proved more promising as Pochettino’s more aggressive style truly began to come to life, only to lose the final 2-1 against Mexico.
Since then, performances have been mixed, with some extremely promising results against the likes of Japan, Uruguay, and Senegal, alongside some tough losses against Germany, Portugal, and Belgium.
Thankfully for the former Argentina international, since the World Cup kicked off, the USMNT have hit new heights. Their dynamic and aggressive playing style has shone through, with Pochettino’s side looking assured and confident through both games to date, resulting in a 4-1 win against Paraguay and a 2-0 victory over Australia.
For the USMNT, this uptick in form may well be down to the various hurdles they’ve had to overcome and learn from since Pochettino took charge, not least their run of four defeats, kick-started by their Panama loss last year,
“That was good crash,” Pochettino explained. “When we detect all the problems, we go for the solution and … we knew that the solution will arrive. The object is to challenge people. We challenge the organization, we challenge players, we challenge everyone.
Pochettino's USMNT has won both of its first two FIFA World Cup games -Credit:Jamie Squire/Getty Images“That was the process, [so] that now is not a coincidence.”
Now with the USMNT riding a newfound wave of confidence and form, and with their spot in the Round of 32 already secured prior to their final group game against Türkiye on Thursday, Pochettino wants his team to absorb all of this positivity with the hopes of maybe manifesting a deep tournament run - or potentially even an unlikely title.