Mauricio Pochettino needs to put the disastrous performances of the Nations League in March behind him and his team. The Gold Cup is the perfect opportunity but with key players resting or not being released how will be adapt a year out from 2026.
Pochettino was speaking at a pre-Gold Cup media day earlier this week.
Q: How do you feel the pressure? How high and intense is it for you guys to win the Gold Cup this summer?
Pochettino: Well, I think when you are in a great country like USA, always the pressure is there. And of course, we are going to host the Gold Cup and always it’s important to win. It’s important to our pattern to wait to arrive in the best condition to the World Cup in one year. We still have one year working on the national team and that is why I think it’s a great opportunity.
The next two friendly games (Turkey and Switzerland) and the Gold Cup (is an opportunity) to see the players and start to work with the players and translate to have the period of being together for the first time. I think it’s going to be really, really nice. And of course, always is going to be the pressure. I think in my career, like a player and then like a coach knowing that you need to win always in that sport. And that is why we are going to take in a natural way, knowing that we need to win and the expectations are really high.
As you reflect now looking back on the Nations League, what did you see there, what you liked, what you didn’t like, did that influence the kind of players you want to have at the Gold Cup?
Pochettino: Yes, I think it’s important to have a clear idea of what happened there (USA lost to both Panama and Canada). I think the circumstances were not the best for us for different reasons. And I think our diagnosis is really clear and it’s a thing to talk now in the next camp.
Of course, always you want to win and you want to see something in the victory, even when losing. I think we need to take many positive things because it’s important how we need to assess our players and after how we are going to combine our players to create this group and the core of the players that is going to be in the World Cup that is the main objective. But I think it was an important experience and that (the Gold Cup) is going to be completely different but I think with the knowledge that we have now and how we saw the team to compete. I think, yes, to try now to also be better for us, like coaching staff, to provide the players better platform, better tools for them to compete.
I think it’s important also to be general, because here is not to criticize one part of the team, is only to say that we are all part of when we fail knowing in March in Los Angeles, but it’s important now to fix all together now. But the first thing is to talk about the reality that happened there. That’s a great opportunity. I think we are all positive and I think it’s a great opportunity to be together for a long time and that is going to be very useful for us.
QWas there any discussion at all about players not participating in Club World Cup and instead perhaps playing in Gold Cup? Did you talk to Juventus or to Dortmund about that possibility?
Pochettino: Yes, I think we had many communications with everyone. (Christian Pulisic, Yunu Musah and Antonee Robinson are being rested after their European club seasons, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah and Gio Reyna are not being released by the their clubs but will play in the CWC). I think we were taking all the arguments and of course we will assess all the individual situations and we are going to take the best decision for every single player and of course the principal objective is the national team because I think all is important at the same level – the national team, the expectation to manage the expectation and also to manage all the individual situations.
Q: Serginho Dest is a player who is obviously coming off a major injury. He’s back on the field. How eager are you to get him into camp? And what are your expectations for what he can give your team?
Pochettino: He’s another player that we want to touch, that we want to see with us, that we want to know in our environment. Serginho Dest is a player that we really know and is a player that, like all the rest of the players that are going to be involved in the squad on the roster, is an important player. They need to feel that all can be. Serginho wasn’t with us in the previous camp because he was injured. And now there’s a lot of communication, our coaching staff, of course, with the medical staff and performance area, working with PSV to try to find the best way to help him because also… He came from an injury and of course he’s playing the last few weeks. Yes, it’s another situation that we are going to pay attention to in an individual way with all the circumstances, agree with the team, with PSV and to take the best decision for him, thinking not only for today, but also for his future and the future of the national team.
Q: You know that for a tournament the goal is to win matches, improve and win the tournament. But you as a coach, what is your personal goal? To see an improvement in terms of attitude or in tactical team play?
Pochettino: Well, I think both things… They are linked. A better performance makes tactical much better. I think that is evident. You can’t have good tactical performance if there is not a good individual performance from the players. So having the players at the best level, any tactical you propose will be much better. I think that as coach, (your job) is to give the best players the opportunity to perform and through that, a tactical approach where everyone is in their best positions to perform in the best way and to be able to get closer to winning matches.
We started not long ago and we haven’t had much time to see all the players. Players who each have their own circumstances, make us a little bit behind. But I think this is a good opportunity for us to have time to work with many players that we already work with and with some other players or with many players that we haven’t been able to have due to problems with individual injuries or problems that have prevented them to come.
Well, I think this is a bit of everything, building. And building, if you win, much better. But also knowing that the objective, as everyone knows, is that we arrive in the optimal conditions in our World Cup. In the World Cup where we are to receive this cup, together with Mexico-Canada, we are the organisers. I think that all of us, plus the fans, have the focus on that.
Q. Are you concerned that Matt Turner hasn’t played in a game in two months since the Nations League? And does he remain your number one goalkeeper going into the Gold Cup?
Pochettino: I think we’re going to have four keepers in these two friendly games and then in the Gold Cup. World Cup allowed us to have 26. I think it’s like always for me it’s about how they are going to train and also we are assessing another player. I think we are going to have games enough to try to give maybe the possibility to another keeper to maybe play but that is not today the decision and of course until now, Matt was our number one choice, but that can change. I think it’s true that he’s not playing.
We were talking with him and we translated the idea that for the future in one year time, I think he needs to find the way to compete every week because if not, it’s going to be a little bit delayed with the rest of the teammates.
But I think, yes, it’s open now. In our mind, it’s open to maybe, you know, for another player maybe to challenge between them and maybe to try to give the possibility to play for another player. Like was in January camp, how Patrick Schulte or Zach Steffen, they had the opportunity to play. Matt Freese didn’t have, but maybe they can have the possibility to play now. And of course, they are a little bit in advantage because they were competing the last few months from March. And we’ll see, it’s all decision and see how they are.
Q: I want to ask about the friendlies coming up against Turkey and Switzerland with the Gold Cup being a week later. Do you plan on using those games with just your Gold Cup squad or do you imagine bringing in other guys for a little bit of competition to narrow down those final spots?
Pochettino: Yes, I think we were talking a lot and we were, yes, trying to be, you know in the way that we want to settle the scene is I think under our consideration the percentage is going to be high, the players are going to be involved in the first two friendly games and then in the Gold Cup. Because I think it’s a logical maybe decision because I think if you want to prepare the Gold Cup I think you need your players being fit in the competition, both in the competitions, in training. And because all the leagues, they were finished. Some leagues last week and now they are finished now. I think to keep the player fit, always is a challenge thing. It’s very challenging. And that is why we analyze all the circumstances. I’m going to try to be right in our decision, but… specific in your question, I think it’s going to be a high percentage of the players that are going to be involved in the first two friendly games that after to be involved in the Gold Cup.
Q: Considering the intense competition within CONCACAF, when you’re putting together a national team and you bring in players that haven’t played together, what are the challenges of making them a cohesive team and warriors on the field?
Pochettino: Yes, always it is more difficult when you don’t have time like it was in Los Angeles in March. That is more difficult because you only have a few training sessions and when you bring too many new players to build the way to play and to build the feelings and the confidence in between them, it’s always more difficult. I think the advantage now is that we are going to spend a long period all together. I think even if it’s going to be a group that maybe they didn’t play together, too many players that maybe they’re going to know and showing for first time in the camp in Chicago, I think it’s going to be good because we are going to have time to prepare and to create these links and emotion in between them and complete it. And that is why we are excited to be there and start to work as soon as possible.
Q: Is it disrespectful to FIFA to organise the Club World Cup at the same time as the dates as the Gold Cup and that situation makes you have to fight for players?
Pochettino: I agree. I wouldn’t say a word as strong as disrespect, but it is a situation that forces a team like the United States or maybe Mexico, Canada or Panama, which has the best players involved in this competition, to be without players who could be available. Because in the end, having such a competition as the Club World Cup, there are many players that we, as coaches, think about for the World Cup and the possibility of having almost a month or more than a month together, previously to the World Cup which will be perhaps the most important competition of the year.
It’s true that having this competition is a situation that doesn’t leave any good situation for any of the teams. But we understand that the football business is set up in this way and we have to try to minimize the damage that can be caused by playing competitions at the same time.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1748011743labto1748011743ofdlr1748011743owedi1748011743sni@r1748011743etsbe1748011743w.kci1748011743n1748011743