Mauricio Pochettino isn't just looking for the U.S. men's national team to play in the 2026 World Cup and perhaps make a little noise in the tournament, he was brought in to do far more than that. He and the U.S. Soccer Federation have their sights set on winning the World Cup on U.S. soil, and Pochettino isn't shying away from letting the entire world know it.
Pochettino was formally introduced as the USMNT's newest manager on Friday, and when asked what he's hoping to accomplish between now and the start of the World Cup in less than two years, he laid out the loftiest of goals.
"We are winners. We are going to compete, and compete is completely different than to play…We have time, and we need to really believe in things, in big things," Pochettino explained. "We need to believe that we can win all the games, that we can win the World Cup."
That brief quote personifies the change in culture that the U.S. men's team must undertake if it wants to not only perform well in the World Cup, but be taken more seriously on the global stage.
You could take any former managers of the USMNT and ask them what they are hoping to accomplish in the World Cup, and everyone would deliver some form of coach-speak about ‘playing to our highest level.’ Not Pochettino, he actually said the words "win the World Cup."
Words, of course, are only words, and legitimately contending for a World Cup in 2026 is the loftiest goal imaginable, but Pochettino, not shying away from said goal, is already instilling excitement among U.S. supporters. The first item on the list to get the American squad moving in the right direction is to re-gain confidence.
"Of course the confidence was a little bit low after the Copa América," Pochettino said, referring to the U.S. being bounced from the group stage of the tournament this summer "I think it's a very good generation of players. We need to show that we play like a collective on the pitch."
Pochettino has never coached at the international level, but he brings more accolades to the USMNT managerial position than anyone else who has manned the role before. The 52-year-old managed Chelsea last season, took Tottenham to the Champions League final in 2019, and previously won a league title with Paris Saint-Germain.
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