Pochettino: "Players Need to Feel Desperation to Join the U.S. Team"
Pochettino made his unofficial debut with the U.S. in October with two friendlies, defeating Panama 2-0 and losing to Mexico by the same score.
The head coach of the United States men’s national soccer team, Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, announced his roster for his official debut with the team on Sunday. He emphasized that players should feel a "desperation" to be called up to the national squad.
"Players need to feel that desperation to come to the national team. That’s something that teams like Argentina have. In Argentina, a player doesn’t choose which game to go to—the call-up from the Argentine national team alone is enough to be desperate to be there," he explained during a video conference.
"It doesn’t matter if it’s a friendly, a Concacaf match, Copa América, or the World Cup. The Argentine player takes each call-up as if it were the World Cup final, as if it were their last chance. I believe that with our players, we have time until 2026 to adopt that mindset. If we think that way (...), we’ll have the chance to achieve something big, because we have talent," he added.
Now, the Argentine coach is set to make his official debut in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals against Jamaica. The first leg will be away on Thursday, November 14, in Kingston, with the return match set for Monday, November 18, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Looking beyond these games, Pochettino spoke about his long-term vision to instill "competitive capability" in U.S. players through unity across all levels of the national program.
"I think it’s step-by-step, little by little; you can’t rush this process. In the end, the most important thing is to build a structure of people around the players who share the same idea, the same mentality (...). We all need to be 200% convinced of what we want to convey," he said.
"And when we win, we all win together, and when we lose, we all lose together. I value the work Gregg (Berhalter) did in the previous cycle (as head coach), and it’s sometimes unfair to place all the blame on the coach when others have also made decisions and remain in their roles," he added.
Pochettino was named head coach on September 10, replacing Berhalter, and will lead the U.S. team as they build toward the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the United States along with Mexico and Canada.
