The U.S. men’s national team did not win either of its two matches during March’s international window but head coach Mauricio Pochettino still believes the squad is trending upward ahead of the FIFA World Cup.
No. 6-ranked Portugal handed the Americans a 2-0 defeat at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Tuesday, using goals from Francisco Trincao and Joao Felix to claim the victory. After a 5-2 thumping at the hands of Belgium on Saturday, the USMNT delivered a much better performance, but still could not end their lengthy winless run against European opposition.
Pochettino’s squad may have started fast in Atlanta but the Argentine admitted that “small details” decided the final outcome.
“I think we compete really well,” Pochettino said postmatch in a press conference. “It was again [for the] first half and 20 minutes or 15 minutes in the second half. And in details, in the small details, I think we lose the game.
“I think this camp is very positive,” he added. “I think it was the end of our cycle…for preparation for the World Cup. I think this is the end because the next roster is going to be the roster that is going to be involved. I think it’s too many things that we need to assess and to see in the next few weeks.”
Pochettino made six changes to his starting lineup from the Belgium defeat, with Christian Pulisic starting in a False No. 9 role atop the attack. The AC Milan star missed just wide of the target with his only shot of the match, playing just 45 minutes in total.
Without an international goal since November 2024, pressure has continued to mount on Pulisic, who will now seek to end his lengthy club drought back in Italy this weekend.
Pochettino believes that goals will come for the 27-year-old soon enough while Pulisic feels he isn’t far off from turning things around.
“Yes, he feels frustrated, but that is what we want, what we expect,” Pochettino said about Pulisic. “He was fighting. He was committing in the phases that we demand more and then with the ball, he’s going to score because he has quality. I am sure that he’s going to come back to his club and the moment that he scores, he is going to score again.”
“Physically I feel really good, feel really sharp, and I’m doing a lot of good things,” Pulisic said in a postmatch interview on TNT. “I have to help my team to create assists and score goals and create chances. Obviously when I don’t do that it’s frustrating, but I feel like I’m close and I feel good things are coming.”
March’s matches served as the final fixtures for the USMNT before Pochettino names his World Cup roster on May 26. While many of the 27 players named earlier this month may have already locked up their roster spots, there surely still are several more up for grabs with two months of club action left to play.
Pochettino expects to see a lot of intensity from all of his players over the next eight weeks, knowing that strong club performances could be the deciding factor in if they are called in May or not.
“I think now they know that it’s going to be a competition,” Pochettino said about the final weeks before the World Cup roster is revealed. “They know that we are going to see every single week, every single game, and we are going to assess one year and a half or more, and we are going to make the decision.
“I think who would be there is going to be happy, [who is] not on the roster is going to be sad, but I think we don’t need to talk too much,” he added.
Luckily for the USMNT, they will have two final tuneups against Senegal and Germany before World Cup play begins for them on June 12. Both countries are ranked in the Top-15 of FIFA’s rankings and will be another pair of stern tests for the Americans to improve and grow.
While Pochettino isn’t too concerned with the USMNT earning results in those matches, he does hope they provide good learning lessons for his squad to build off of.
“It’s massive for us. It’s about to learn,” Pochettino said about playing Senegal and Germany before the World Cup. “I think we should play more games…like this because even if it’s painful, it’s the only way to improve. It’s the only way to learn. It’s the only way to see how these top players and teams compete.”
Everybody…US Soccer, Pochettino, his staff, and the players…is responsible for the results in these last two games.
With respect to this article, the fact of the matter is, Pochettino is equally, and simultaneously, a head coach and a politician. He regularly exhibits his skills as a politician by saying one thing and doing another…aka coach speak. He said the March camp was going to be treated like the beginning of the World Cup. Well, if that’s the case, we just got grouped.
It is clear that Pochettino and his staff are scrambling and do not have the answers, as we are 76 days out from the USMNT’s first game from the World Cup, and he is still experimenting with lineups, formations, and tactics.
Make no mistake about it, Pochettino’s job is hard. That said, make no mistake about it, that is why he is being paid handsomely, and in doing so, he is being tasked with clearly exhibiting growth and success for the USMNT, neither of which we saw in this last window. Makes you wonder…what are Uncle Ken, Uncle Scott, and Uncle Art, thinking about their investment?
He can say whatever he wants, including “we are really close” and “this was a positive camp,” but that is just the latest example of Pochettino talking down to the media and fans in this country.
I would recommend Pochettino live by a different mantra…don’t tell me, show me.
If you’re really a cool person, you don’t have to say it, just be yourself and it will exude out of you. If you are smart, you don’t have to say it, just be yourself and it will be evident. If you know soccer, you don’t have to say it, just be yourself and your comments, posts, thoughts, etc., will clearly confirm that.
If “we were really close,” or “this was a positive camp,” Pochettino wouldn’t have to tell us…it would be evidently clear based on how the team performed on the field.
No one likes less than ideal score lines, feedback, or news, but that can be accepted if it is transparent, candid, and truthful. Pochettino could have said, “These games did not go as we hoped. The opponents were tough and we wanted to challenge ourselves. That said, we now have a better idea of how we get better and we will spend the time between now and the World Cup working hard to have success.”
What people don’t accept is bullshit. As of now, Pochettino is full of bullshit.
There is some good news…there is time between now and the World Cup, which means things can improve. That said, there is a flip side, which is not good news…there probably isn’t enough time, or training sessions, to fix all the issues currently facing this USMNT team, such that we can beat a Belgium or Portugal at our home World Cup.
Ugh.
super post Papi, thank you. Re. show me, don’t tell me, I literally said that and took that position way back when he told us, the fans, how to feel, remember that? I called him out then 😉
Anyway, cheers
beachbum,
“when he told us, the fans, how to feel, remember that?”
I didn’t really listen to Pochettino then or now.
Why? Because I think he mostly is speaking to his audience i.e. the players.
He was hired to put in a performance at the 2026 World Cup. These games were practice and practice, for any like of work, is often ugly.
I’ll care what he says after the Paraguay game is over. Until then it is just noise.
6 things learned about the USMNT in defeats to Belgium, Portugal
1) Matt Freese is the clear USMNT No. 1 goalkeeper
2) Christian Pulisic is totally out of form
3) Chris Richards is indeed our best CB on the team
4) Intensity, which is required for the press, is nonexistent when certain players are not on the field.
5) Pochettino still has not figured out his best USMNT starting 11
6) Pulisic, Mckennie, M. Tillman and Weah are in the attack but none of them are the tenacious goal scorers needed to take the USMNT to the next level.
7) Sergino Dest is a huge part of the USMNT attack
Where do we go from here? I have absolutely no idea lol. Pulisic, Mckennie, M. Tillman and Weah are our best players and cannot score goals when it matters. They have not been responsible for the goals and assists in the last 5 games before these March Friendlies. These players will make the bulk of the 26-man roster for the World Cup, and this is our “best foot forward” against Belgium and Portugal??? Two teams that couldn’t best Mexico or score more than a goal against them?? The sky is not falling but we are indeed in big trouble
So ready for this grifter clown to go, he is a trigger and a weirdo gaslighter! Need a coach that actually set the team up for success, which Poch does not do! Mexico has less talent than us, and was able to tie both games. smh!
I can’t help but think Poch was truly looking at some tactical things in these games. He’s too smart to make some of the decisions he made during this window otherwise.
To leave a midfield quartet of Tillman, Tessman, Morris and Berhalter on for so long while having Agyemang and Weah and Arfsten as your more attacking players (assuming the RB and LB were suppose to be RWB and LWB) had to have some thought behind it. The game state was 1-0. After the water break (up until then the US was flying all over the field and Portugal was having a hard time getting into the flow of their game – I hate the water breaks!!! Killed our momentum in both games!) Portugal dominated. Perhaps coming out of half time Poch was just wanting to see how fielding a very defensive team versus an elite team would look? That being said having Agyemang as the striker was an odd choice to lead a counter attack.
Anyway, Poch has more soccer knowledge in his pinky finger nail than I do so I guess I will take his word for it that things went ok.
Blablabla. In the meantime Mexico played the same teams and competed much better. We were totally outclasses in both games and neither Belgium not Portugal had to dig deep to roll past us. I don’t know if it’s the coach/tactics or the players but at this point it’s hard seeing us beat anyone in out WC group. No leaders on the field and lackluster showings from our “stars”. Let’s hope Dest and Adams get healthy in time.
Hhhmmmm…….
“Pochettino calls USMNT March camp “very positive” despite winless results”
USMNT 2 vs Belgium 5
USMNT 0 vs Portugal 2
7 goals against and 2 goals in favor
Mexico 1 vs Belgium 1
Mexico 0 vs Portugal 0
1 goal against and 1 goal in favor
If this is “positive” for Pochettino and the USMNT, I wonder what we should call the results of Javier Aguirre and the Mexican National Team…….
The plan is coming together perfectly. It’s the faint weakness ploy. In order for this to work, several score lines need to shout out this team is not ready for the big boys. Wait until Germany dismantles us days before the start of the finals. That will be the coup de gras.
Then, Paraguay meets the sledgehammer!
—> coup de grace (vs. foie gras)
“faint weakness ploy” — feint? feigned?
I admit I also had thoughts along those lines. “Well, we’ve lulled them into submission now …”
Or was that your April Fool?
Tejana,
Portugal has at least 11 guys who could reasonably start for the USMNT.
The same is true for Belgium. Maybe more.
“weakness” is not a ploy. It is a reality.
We have the talent to compete but only just enough. The USMNT have to field their best line up playing at 100% intensity in the first game. If they can do that and win, then there is a chance for them build up confidence to make a run.
They play Senegal May 31.
The roster will be set by then.
The season will be over for our overseas guys. No more distractions for them.
Senegal and Germany are still practice friendlies but they should give us a much better idea of what Friday, June 12, 2026, against Paraguay might look like.
As for what Pochettino is saying to the media, he’s really only speaking to an audience of one, namely his players.
He’s not getting fired at this point so anything you hear from him is really him talking to his team trying to get them to believe they are better than they are because unless they do believe they will get smeared.
I can’t get with this at all. I can’t remember us getting our asses beat as consistently as we have. I’ve followed the team since before the 1990 World Cup. It’s depressing
In the fall of ‘91 into summer ‘92 we went 2-2-8 (wtl). Four game stretch vs El Salvador, Brazil, Spain, and Morocco lost all of them by a 1-10 aggregate. Part of a longer stretch going 8-15-20 from ‘91 into ‘93. Stretch in ‘94 and ‘95 where we won once in 10 matches. Another stretch in ‘97 where we went 1 win 3 draws and 6 losses in 10. ‘98 WC 0-3 in group 1-5 gd. 2001 lost 3 qualifiers in a row and looked in danger of not qualifying. Spring of 2006 blown out by Germany 4-1, barely beat Latvia and then got 1pt in the group stage at WC. ‘09-‘10 we lost to Denmark,Slovakia, Netherlands, Czech Republic by combined score 10-4. A 1-1-5 stretch in 2011. A 2-2-6 stretch in 2014. 2015 lost to Jamaica in GC semis, lost pks to Panama to finish 4th, blowout by Brazil 4-1, lost to Mexico 3-2, got dominated by CR in New York in a game we were lucky to lose 1-0. Overtime we remember the big moments, we remember we drew France 1-1 right before they won the WC, but we forget it was part of a 1-2-5 where we lost 4-2 to Colombia and 3-0 to England. The results have been mixed, but not historically bad. We literally beat two of our WC opponents in the last six months.
Courey,
I thought that Pochettino was going to use these two games to “fine tune” his best eleven and the “most likely” regular subs.
Turns out I was wrong. I have no inside knowledge but it now looks like our overseas guys,who were the bulk of the starters, are stale, flat, probably blase. Most of them know damn well (they think) that they are on the team. It is near the end of their seasons so no one should be surprised. There were a few who really needed to make their case but it is pretty hard to impress if everyone else is flat or tentative. It is still a team game.
And it shows. If this edition of the USMNT is not “hair on fire” up for battle, all of them, and completely dialed in for 90+ minutes, the likes of Belgium and Portugal will, I promise, fuck you up but good.
The USMNT hung with them long enough to show that the talent is there but it has to always be there for 90+ minutes. And it wasn’t.
I get why you are depressed but if this was the 2022 WC team, it would have been worse. The USMNT did not win anything or lose anything. This was practice.
It upset the fans and gave a bunch of pundits an excuse to rend their garments and gnash their teeth.
But mostly it was a wake up call to the tired staff and players of the USMNT.
The fine tuning will have to wait for Senegal and Germany.