US needs to believe ‘we can win the World Cup’? Pochettino will need all the help he can get

It might be easy to hear Mauricio Pochettino say that his new players must “believe” they can win the World Cup and roll your eyes.

It’s the kind of flashy slogan that ambitious managers often produce during their first press conferences.

What else could he say after all those months of international courtship with his new employers, the red wine and the steaks, the unprecedented financial picture? “We need to look good in the group stage and maybe reach the round of 16”?

No, the Argentine is a winner and he talks like a winner. He also knows that he has two jobs with the U.S. men’s national team: not only to transform the quality of the team in a relatively short period of time, but also to change the mindset.

When asked about the limited time (only 10 international breaks and no tournament) before the US co-hosts the 2026 World Cup, he replied: “Everyone thinks there is no time to prepare and be in the best shape for the World Cup.

Pochettino speaks to the media in New York City on September 13 (Timothy A Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

“I am on the other side. I don’t want to give an excuse. I don’t want to create an excuse for the players to say: ‘Yes, but I don’t have time to buy the new ideas and the new philosophy’. No. We are talking about football and the players are so intelligent and talented and can play differently.

“We have time and we really have to believe in big things. Believe that we can win not only a game, but also the World Cup. Otherwise it will be very difficult. We want players who come to training camp on day one and think big.

“That is the only way to create this philosophy or this idea of ​​performing and putting your talent at the service of the team. That will be our huge challenge.”

The players he inherits are generally an intelligent, realistic bunch. They are also used to questions about what progress means for this group. Interviews before and during this summer’s Copa America often brought up the subject.

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“Getting to the quarterfinals,” midfielder Tyler Adams said when asked in June what a positive outcome would look like. “We’ve got to, in a stressful situation, win in a knockout (match). That’s going to measure a lot of our success.”

It may not have been what some fans wanted to hear; a temporary boost after a rallying cry that promised trophies at the competition, which was widely billed as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.

But if Adams was trying to raise expectations, he was right. As it turned out, winning a knockout match would have been real progress for a team that was beaten 5-1 by eventual Copa America finalists Colombia in a friendly on June 8.

Instead, the US collapsed in the group stage, victims of an individual error from Tim Weah in the loss to Panama and then a lack of quality to prevent that from proving fatal. They were tasked with beating Uruguay to advance, but they simply didn’t have enough.

Adams and the U.S. national team were unable to advance against Uruguay on July 1 (Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

The scale of the task ahead should not surprise Pochettino, then. It may sound nice, but talking, as he did, about emulating the serial success of the US women’s national team also seems fanciful.

Deep down, he probably knows that too. So he publicly challenges his players from the start to stop hiding. No excuses. No belief in the story that there just isn’t time.

It’s a gamble for the 52-year-old, because the reality is that the story is likely true and he will ultimately be judged on his words and results. The US just lost to Canada and could only manage a draw this week with a New Zealand team that is 78 places lower in the world rankings.

Confidence is low and Pochettino knows that building some kind of collective belief is crucial for this team to emerge from the ropes and have the mentality to win big games in 2026.

It’s unlikely he truly believes the USMNT will win the World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in just under two years. But a team often accused of lacking fighting spirit when it really matters needs to think bigger, and that’s the point.

The other part of his job is that he has to adapt quickly to the very different demands of coaching international football, where the opportunities to build a team that will run through walls for you, as he did at his best at Southampton and Tottenham, are limited.

“Every time we have the opportunity to be with them we will be very clinical in giving information,” Pochettino added on Friday. “We have to be smart enough in the way we approach training to get the best out of them.”

But even though he understandably did not want to alienate some of his new players by listing the squad’s weaknesses during his official presentation, Pochettino must be ruthless.

He needs to find an elite goalkeeper quickly. He needs to build a defense with the aggression and intelligence that teams from his South American homeland show.

There also needs to be a better balance in midfield, for a team that is well-equipped with smart defensive midfielders but lacks consistent creativity. How long will he spend trying to unlock Gio Reyna’s puzzle, for example?

Then he must find the flashy solution that will lead a team that has too often botched its goal lines at the Copa. Which of the promising young players who performed well at the Paris Olympics will he quickly bring into his team?

And he has to do all this while achieving enough results to bring a partly skeptical American fan base along with him on his journey.

So don’t roll your eyes when Pochettino talks about his belief that the USMNT can win the World Cup. Maybe just close them and say a silent prayer for the divine intervention he might need to achieve all of his goals in less than two years.

He’s going to need all the help he can get.

(Top photo: Dustin Satloff/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)