United States coach Mauricio Pochettino said players must see soccer as more than just a game when competing in order to be successful during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
He used the mental approach taken by a team he is very familiar with as an example: Argentina, for whom Pochettino played during his career.
“When we are seeing different national teams, today we talked about Argentina because it’s the [world] champion and they have very good players,” Pochettino told ESPN. “But for me the most important difference it’s the mentality, how they compete as a group and the belief that they have and when they go to the pitch, they go to war and to defend your badge, your flag and that is what we need to create.
“We need to translate to our players that it´s not only going to be a soccer game, we need to go one step forward to compete better.”
Since taking the role as manager of the U.S. on Sept. 10, Pochettino has won three games and lost one, to rivals Mexico in a friendly. Though he’s seen early success with the team, Pochettino continues to strive for more on the road to the World Cup.
“[Right now] the mentality is really good, I think we have a very good mentality, a very good culture,” he said. “Sometimes there’s a moment when you go up and down, the most important is to be consistent, to keep your capacity and your mentality.”
The United States face a unique road to the 2026 tournament as co-hosts, automatically earning a ticket and avoiding any Concacaf qualifiers. The limited amount of competition is a double-edged sword, but one positive is it allows Pochettino to test out different players for the Gold Cup, Nations League and upcoming friendlies.
“For me, the most important factor [in calling up a player] is how they are performing in their club. It’s true that we have different situations in which maybe they don’t play too much in their club” said Pochettino. “But we consider it before calling them up because they are important for the group. They perform here, even if they don’t play too much.
“We always analyze things differently, with different ways for different players. We don’t use the same standard of rules to assess players in the same way.”
The USMNT is set to kick off 2025 with a game against Venezuela at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Jan. 18, and then Costa Rica four days later at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando with some new faces on the roster like Brian Gutierrez and Patrick Agyemang.
