After a summer where the United States failed to make it out of the group stage of the Copa America, new head coach Mauricio Pochettino revealed his interest in bringing fresh blood into the squad.
Speaking to the press for the first time as USMNT coach, Pochettino put pressure on the players to perform for their clubs saying that he’d ‘be there watching’ them.
It comes after the men’s team crashed out of a Copa America held on US soil. That was followed up by a lackluster September window under interim coach Mikey Varas which resulted in the Americans losing to rivals Canada at home for the first time since 1957 and a sloppy draw with New Zealand.
While admitting that he couldn’t make an accurate assessment of the team following those September fixtures, Pochettino also put out the call for players to do better in the coming weeks before he calls his first team for the October international window.
‘We were watching the [recent international] games, and it’s difficult to judge because I think we cannot be unfair in the way that we are going to judge,’ Pochettino told reporters.
New USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino said the ‘door is open’ for new players in the squad
Pochettino was revealed for the first time as USMNT manager at a press conference
‘The circumstances are so special after the Copa America. The situation wasn’t good for the players to manage in the last two games.
‘But the most important thing is to see the potential that we have. [We have] very good players.
‘I think [we’ll] send the message to everyone, not only the players that were involved in the last few games, not only the players that play in Europe or the players that play here in USA and then MLS. Every single player that is around the world, we are going to try to pay attention and from now, they have the door open.
‘It’s all about their performance and try to show that they are capable to join the national team. I think that is one of our first ideas that we want to translate to our players. They need to understand that if they perform, we are going to be there watching.’
Plenty has been said about the team’s mentality over the past few weeks – from both Varas and the players themselves.
But Pochettino’s hire – announced before that New Zealand game this week – has injected new hope into the squad.
The new coach said he’ll be working with the team and professionals – including psychologists – to help recover the squad’s confidence in the coming weeks.
‘We are always positive. I think we have very talented players. I think, of course, that confidence is a little bit low after the Copa America. I think we are going to work on recovery,’ Pochettino said.
Pochettino said he’ll work with psychologists to ‘recover the confidence’ lost over the summer
‘We have very good professionals – not only in tactics or in physical fitness – but in psychology that we are going to work with to create the right pattern to follow, to recover the confidence and start to perform together.’
Pochettino’s first test will be against Panama – one of the teams the USMNT lost to at the Copa America – in Austin, Texas before flying down to Mexico to take on the Americans’ biggest international rivals.
The hiring of Pochettino is a statement of intent by US Soccer in a year that has been a home run on the women’s side but a strikeout on the men’s side.
Now, they’ll hope to be able to build themselves towards a bigger goal in 2026 – all with the best coach they’ve ever had at the helm.
