In his first press conference as the U.S. men’s national team head coach on Friday morning, Mauricio Pochettino emphasized the belief he intends to instill in his squad as they prepare for their primary 2026 World Cup objective.
“We need to really believe in big things,” said Pochettino. “We need to believe that we can win, that we can win not only a game, we can win the World Cup.”
Mauricio Pochettino, “Belief for me is a word that is so powerful. You can have an enormous talent, and you can be clever. In football, you need to believe, believe that all is possible. We find a way to believe altogether and I think we can for sure we will achieve.”
Concerns remain over the short time frame ahead of the tournament as well as the lack of competitive matches available to Pochettino as he prepares his team for the biggest sporting tournament in the world but the man himself set a tone of accountability from day one.
“What I wanted to tell you is that I am in the opposite side,” Pochettino proclaimed. ”I believe that time is enough. I don’t want to put an excuse. I don’t want to create an excuse for the player to say, ‘Well yeah, but no, now we don’t have time to buy the new idea, the new philosophy.’”
Beyond the time constraints, implementing a change in culture is a focus of the USMNT as stated by captain Christian Pulisic following the team’s recent 1-1 draw against New Zealand. Once again, Pochettino was clear on what that would look like.
“We are a coaching staff that the first thing is we love the aesthetic in football and for us, it is really important. We want to play good football, exciting football. We are in USA. I think to convince our fans that showing us is about to attract and the aesthetic is really important. We want to play nice football, good football, exciting football, attacking football.
“And then, of course, if we want to have the possession — because we are coaching staff also the philosophy is to have the ball — we need to run, we need to move, we need to give options, good angles to your teammate.”
That on-the-field change remains interconnected with off-the-field change.
“To translate, to create this platform that when they come, [when] the players arrive to the national team they need to know exactly what we need to do, how we need to compete, how we need to behave like a team. The potential is there, the talent is there. It is only to create the best platform for them to express themselves.”
Part of that process will be opening the player pool to look at players who may have been previously skipped over. Pochettino promised the door will remain open for every single American player around the world to find a spot on the USMNT.
Contrary to prior reports, Pochettino also indicated he plans to live stateside but will regularly travel between Europe and North America as he examines every player at his disposal.
“I think putting all of these things together; his great soccer acumen, great leader, great person, great motivator, and his passion put all that together led us to believe that we have the best person in the world for this job,” praised USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone after stating, “There is nobody who deserves more credit than our sporting director Matt Crocker.”
Crocker, who spent time with Pochettino at Southampton in 2013, leveraged his past relationships with the manager and sporting executives at Chelsea to not only ensure he wanted to join the USMNT but that his former club (who he was still under contract with) would allow him to go.
“It was really important to us: a coach that matched our ambitions as we work and move towards 2026,” said Crocker. “I’m confident that we have secured not only the best coach, but the best person and the best leader to take our program forward”
In shouting out USWNT head coach Emma Hayes who Pochettino also spent time with in the Premier League at Chelsea, the new USMNT head coach perfectly exemplified both the personality and ambition Crocker refers to.
“Now we have Emma [Hayes who] is the best coach in the world and the women’s team in history won everything,” Pochettino prefaced. “I think we need to match them.”
These are precisely the ambitious quotes USMNT fans wanted to hear from their new head coach. Intent, confidence, passion, and most importantly belief were all at the core of the most monumental press conference in recent USMNT history.
While the focus remains on the trajectory of this team going forward, before we turn our attention CEO of U.S. Soccer JT Batson reminded us all to savor the moment and give ourselves a pat on the back for our contribution to the historic hire of Pochettino.
“This is something that everyone who has been involved in soccer in America should be proud of. You, whether directly or indirectly, made today possible.”
