Mauricio Pochettino is the man of the moment. And the USA coach is ready to meet the moment.
Pochettino knows full well the weight of responsibility on his shoulders as he prepares to lead the Stars and Stripes into a FIFA World Cup™ on home soil. But the Argentinian has vowed to utilize the pressure and expectations placed on him and the squad to not only lead the USA to a deep run at the FIFA World Cup 2026™ but also galvanize a nation starved of soccer success.
The road to the global showpiece has been far from straightforward. After being hired in September 2024, Pochettino has had little time to get to know the players and the wider soccer landscape in the United States. Results, meanwhile, have been mixed, including back-to-back defeats in the March international window.
But Pochettino remains quietly confident as he prepares to meet Australia, Paraguay and Türkiye in Group D in front of packed houses and a fanbase desperate to see the States hold their own against the powerhouses of global football.
The 54-year-old sat down with FIFA to discuss his World Cup goals and the lasting legacy he hopes the tournament will leave behind.
Mauricio Pochettino: As the USA coach, I’m expected to be in charge of everything soccer related — I am responsible for controlling, managing, and preparing this team’s identity… getting to know the culture of this country. So the responsibility is enormous. Because it’s a responsibility in which people need to identify with what they see on the field, with what the players produce, and this is for every coach that accepts a challenge on this scale, a huge responsibility.
In every event like a World Cup, in every country that has held it, there is a before and after, for many reasons. Since USA 1994, soccer has been growing in the States, and we have seen it followed by MLS: many big-name players with a lot of skill have inspired many kids that have decided to play this sport, and we see this growth day-to-day. This is an opportunity to keep supporting, to keep giving visibility to this sport in this country, where little by little it’s gaining a lot of visibility.
I’ve learned a lot in the nearly year and a half that we’ve been here. This was a challenge, this was coming here without a lot of time, because normally the cycles are four years in a national team. Due to what happened, I had to take charge with very little time, very few games, very few training sessions, to be able to observe and have a certain knowledge that you have to have.
Now we have experience, we had to adapt quickly to the circumstances and I think we have adapted well. The players and all the staff in the federation have had the humility and the ability, as well, to make the path a little easier for us. I think that we are in a good position.
Our team has to show the desire to be the best, to always be first, to win, to compete… all the values that this country demonstrates to the rest of the world.
I don’t think that there are formulas to design before a competition…. [just] the certainty that you are going to give up or are not going to give up. There is a science factor and there is an emotional factor. At one point, they meet, and the decisions have to be made without leaving aside any of the two.
Yes, all the pressure, the responsibility, the expectation that it generates, the fact we are hosting the World Cup, I think that has to be translated into energy. This is also one of the big challenges in which we work. So that all of those things that are going to exist are transformed into positivity and that gives us the energy to always have the chance to try a bit harder, to never give up, and always be above the opposition, that’s what we want.
I believe that we have the talent to compete and to believe that we can do great things, but… talent without commitment is a game that is transformed into individuality, and you do not win with individuality only. You win through the commitment to generate or create a team with a solid base, a solid structure, that when the talent appears, that team supports it and gives the possibility for the talent to make a difference.
The legacy would be for us, the fans, the people that are involved in this sport… the memories that we are going to make together. And that we enjoy competing at the highest level, and above all, the victories, which is, ultimately, what will always generate good emotions.
