For the USMNT’s preparation ahead of the 2026 World Cup, head coach Mauricio Pochettino identified the “friendly games” as a main challenge to sort out among the squad. Mauricio Pochettino’s nearly two years leading the USMNT will be put to the test in less than 50 days when the 2026 World Cup commences in North America. In the process of establishing his philosophy, Pochettino identified “friendly games” as one of the main challenges ahead of the competition.
Set to host the tournament alongside Canada and Mexico, the USMNT had the advantage of skipping the World Cup qualifiers. However, having their spot already secured seemed to be an issue for Pochettino in terms of demanding more from his players.
Speaking on The Overlap YouTube channel, Pochettino was asked by Roy Keane if he had concerns over the lack of jeopardy since the team had already qualified: “When we (Pochettino & staff) accept the challenge to go to America, we knew that it was going to be a problem how to approach the games. Because we were already qualified.“
The coach then explained a shift made during his time with the USMNT regarding the approach toward friendly games. “I avoid to say to the players, and to my staff, and the media in America to say friendly game. I say not official game. A friendly game is when you play with your friends. Non-official game is still not official, but it’s competitive. And sometimes they make that mistake: ‘This is a friendly game. I don’t need to take a risk.’ You need to create that habit,” he added.
Apart from the CONCACAF Nations League and the Gold Cup, Pochettino’s tenure has featured more friendly games (14) than official ones (10) over his 24 games in charge. That number is set to grow in the friendlies prior to the World Cup, with one against Senegal (May 31st) and another yet to be confirmed.
This change in terminology during the last international window was intended to change his players’ perception. “You don’t compete for a year and a half, and then you go to the World Cup to compete. It’s not like this, and we are fighting to change that mindset,” Pochettino added.
Pochettino still convinced of USMNT World Cup chances
Pochettino surprised fans when addressing the USMNT as potential World Cup winners in 2026. During the draw gala, he admitted to U.S. President Donald Trump that he sees the team winning the tournament, and he is far from taking that back.
When asked by Gary Neville if the goal is to reach the quarterfinals, he doubled down on winning the competition: “Why not? Why not? It’s all about to believe. Look at Morocco in Qatar, no one believed and they arrived to the semifinals. Or South Korea in Japan/Korea 2002, another semifinal. I think there’s plenty of examples. If you put a limit and the message is to arrive to quarterfinals… You don’t go through the group stage.“
Beyond citing World Cup history, he addressed Tottenham’s heroics in reaching the Champions League final against Ajax. “Everything is possible in football, and because I really believe it… Look what happened in 2019 in Amsterdam. It’s because the standard, the habit, and the mentality was to believe until the end. We believed and we got the result in the end,” he added.