The Mauricio Pochettino era of the United States Men’s National Team is officially underway. On Friday, US Soccer presented the former Tottenham and Chelsea manager to the media for his first-ever press conference as the USMNT head coach.

Pochettino’s press conference came off the back of the United States Men’s National Team failing to beat Canada and New Zealand in the most recent international window. 

While Pochettino didn’t dwell on those results – he said it was unfair to judge them after the disappointing summer the US Men’s National Team had at the Copa America – it was clear that he felt the US was lacking motivation in those matches. 

‘We need to believe that we can win the World Cup’

Pochettino spent a lot of his inaugural press conference addressing the need to instill a winning mentality in the US Men’s National Team. 

The word “believe” was said so much that it felt a bit like a Ted Lasso episode at times. It was obvious that Pochettino was sincere though. 

The Argentine is a motivator who has a clear idea of how his players should act. He stressed that when players are called up to the squad, they need to do more than just play. They need to throw away all the excuses and just focus on improving and competing to the best of their abilities.

“You are here to play? No. You are here to compete,” Pochettino said, “Everyone thinks there is no time to prepare…I am on the opposite side. I think there is enough time. I don’t want to create an excuse for the players…

“We have time, and we need to really believe in things, in big things. We need to believe that we can win the World Cup,” he continued. 

Pochettino added that Emma Hayes and the US Women’s National Team are a good example of the winning mentality that he would like to see with the US Men’s National Team. 

“Emma is the best women’s coach in the world, the women’s team have won everything in the world…(the women’s team) will be our inspiration.”

Pochettino’s USMNT tactics

When asked about whether implementing the high-intensity tactics that he is known for would be a part of turning the US Men’s National Team around, Pochettino again turned towards motivating the players and instilling the right mindset before thinking about his favorite tactics.

“It’s true (that my teams are physical)…, but I think the most important thing now is to center an idea that can fit for everyone, an idea that the players want to buy (into)…We need to listen and share our ideas to create our own idea,” Pochettino explained. 

While he said he would be “flexible” with his tactics, Pochettino was also clear that there are some baseline principles that he wants the US to play with. 

“We want to play a good football, [with] excitement. We are in the USA – I think to convince our fans to join us, this is about to attract; the aesthetic is really important. We want to play nice football, good football, exciting football, attacking football…but when we don’t have the ball, we need to run. We need to be honest,” he said. 

Mauricio Pochettino’s mission: A ‘player’s-first’ mentality

Getting on the same page with his players was a running theme of Pochettino’s press conference. Like whenever a new manager comes in, someone asked Pochettino what the first thing he will do when he gets to coach his team for the first time. 

“I will tell you after,” Pochettino responded, “The priority is to feel the players. We have a plan, but the most important thing is to feel how they are.”

Earlier in the press conference, he stressed that the players need to feel connected and looked after if the US Men’s National Team is going to be successful going forward. 

“The players need to feel that we care…The objective is to improve, to provide a good platform for them to perform, and to feel comfortable every time they join us.”

Overall, all of Pochettino’s comments struck a balance between demanding intensity from the players and catering to their needs. He said all the right things and brought forward all the ideas that US fans wanted to hear. 

It’s too early to say whether Pochettino will bear fruit for the US Men’s National Team, but, from what we’ve seen so far, the future of the national team looks promising with Pochettino in charge.

Pochettino will coach his first game with the US Men’s National Team on October 12 against Panama in Austin, Texas. The US then will head to Guadalajara to play against Mexico on October 15. Both of those games will be air on TNT, Max and Telemundo/Universo.