Jeff Carlisle
Close
Jeff Carlisle
U.S. soccer correspondent
- Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.
Multiple Authors
At first glance, descriptions of what it’s like to play for U.S. men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino are littered with contradictions. Among the words players use are “intense,” “passionate” and “demanding” — but those are almost immediately followed by words seemingly at the other end of the emotional spectrum. “Family” comes up, as does “likable,” even “loving.”
In many respects, that is the nature of coaching. When trying to extract the best out of a group of players, the emotions and approaches cover a broad spectrum, and can vary widely across individuals, or even from minute to minute. There are times to drop the hammer, and other moments to put an arm around the shoulder. And despite a coach’s best efforts, they can’t reach every player. That doesn’t mean they stop trying.
Based on recent evidence, Pochettino’s approach appears to be working. The USMNT is unbeaten in its past five games heading into friendly matches against Belgium on March 28 and Portugal three days later.
Granted, this string of positive results consisted of all friendlies, but with the U.S. co-hosting this summer’s World Cup, and no World Cup qualifying slog to go through, the USMNT can play only the teams that are in front of them. To that end, the team’s trajectory is decidedly upward, and that is down in large part to Pochettino’s approach — and the players’ receptiveness to his methods.
“Above all, he just expects intensity, and he expects mentality — he expects energy,” midfielder Cristian Roldan told ESPN when asked about Pochettino. “I think those things are really contagious. So he’s very likable. He’ll hug you. He’ll have a conversation with you. He’ll yell at you. But in the end, it comes from a good place. And as long as you bring what he wants, you’re going to be in a good spot.”
– The latest USMNT Big Board: Who’s in and who’s out?
– Ranked: Every USMNT World Cup kit from 1990 to 2026
– USWNT transfer grades: Every American move assessed
A USMNT culture that’s “more strict”
It was clear when Pochettino was hired back in September 2024 that things needed to change within the USMNT. Like the dark side of the force, negative habits and emotions had slowly crept into the U.S. team.
Some of this was down to having two back-to-back interim managers over six months — Anthony Hudson and B.J. Callaghan — to start 2023, and then opting to rehire Gregg Berhalter to the post full-time later that year. The progress the USMNT achieved during the 2022 cycle wasn’t replicated in Berhalter’s second go-round. Complacency set in and the project stagnated.
So, when Pochettino came on board as an objective outsider, he made it clear that there would be no guaranteed starters. Players would have to earn their spots, regardless of their perceived status within the team or from the broader public. Everyone would be held accountable.
“No one’s special — when you come into camp, you’re a U.S. men’s national team player, you deserve to be here,” midfielder Tyler Adams told ESPN. “[He’ll] make sure that you get better each time you come into camp and feel worthy. But at the same time, it’s required from you to put what you’re going to get in and get out of it. So, every single camp guys have learned and adjusted to that.
“But I don’t want to say that he’s changed the culture — I’d say he’s brought the culture out of us. I think we’ve had that in us and it was just took someone to bring it out of us, and I think he’s done a great job of that.”
And how did Pochettino do that exactly? To hear Adams tell it, the approach — at least a high level — was simple.
“I think he’s a little bit more strict in certain things,” Adams said. “I think that the standards that were set were clear from day one. You don’t break my trust. You don’t break the rules. You don’t disrespect one another or you won’t be around.”
The adjustment did take some time. The performances at the 2025 Concacaf Nations League finals, when the USMNT fell in consecutive matches to Panama and Canada, were horrid. It led to multiple former USMNT players questioning the heart and desire of the current generation.
Pochettino responded by not calling up certain players — most notably Weston McKennie — for subsequent camps. Due in part to injuries to the likes of Antonee Robinson and Folarin Balogun, but also what Pochettino called “football decisions,” the coach took a decidedly youthful squad to the 2025 Gold Cup. Twelve players on the roster had five or fewer international appearances.
While the U.S. ultimately lost to Mexico in the Gold Cup final, the message was clear: Pochettino would call up the best team that worked together, not the best 26 players.
But the Argentine also showed patience. Every player encounters a coaching change at some point in their career. With Pochettino, there was an understanding that a different coach from a very different background would take some getting used to.
“You understand that there’s going to be nuances and there’s going to be growing pains that come along with [a coaching change], but you also understand you have to have grace with one another,” U.S. defender Mark McKenzie told ESPN. “So I think that was the biggest thing, is recognizing that it’s not going to be perfect in the first moments. They started to learn us the same way we need to learn them.”
2:58
Is Mauricio Pochettino is under pressure to deliver success for USMNT at the World Cup?
The ‘Futbol Americas’ crew to debate if Mauricio Pochettino is under serious pressure to deliver success for the USMNT as they prepare to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Those growing pains now appear to have been overcome. But with less than 100 days until the World Cup, and just one more international window taking place, tensions are bound to rise as the May date for the World Cup roster announcement approaches. With Pochettino’s no-favorites approach, will fear be the predominant emotion during the run-up to the tournament?
“I’ll be very honest: I think some guys will probably feel scared,” veteran U.S. defender Tim Ream told ESPN. “I think that’s a realistic and a real feeling that some guys will have.
“The approach that you have to take is, well, your spot is never guaranteed no matter where you are. Someone’s always younger, faster, better, trying to take your spot. So how do you hold that off as long as possible? Well, you just keep working. That’s the way the sport is.”
The USMNT’s intense “die for the shirt” approach
Pochettino’s culture of accountability bleeds into the training sessions, sometimes literally. For the players, the moment the boots go on, there is nothing else in the world that matters. Perfection isn’t expected but maximum effort, intensity and laser-like focus are. Training sessions become a test of mental endurance as much they are about physical fortitude.
“What’s the most important thing? That pass is the most important thing. That touch is the most important thing,” said Ream. “That piece of communication — whether you’re telling somebody left, right, go this way, go that way — is the most important thing. And so when I [refer to] how demanding he is, he wants all of that.
“In every single training session, as soon as you cross the line, your focus is nowhere but there. And that can be draining. Yeah — it can be very draining.”
Pochettino expects that intensity to permeate every aspect of the training session. That includes reaching a level of physicality that replicates game-like situations. Yes, the tackles do fly in at times.
“Whether it’s 11-v-11, a small sided game, yeah, I’m going to get stuck in,” said McKenzie. “I’m not doing it to the point where it’s going to harm or hurt my teammate. But at the same time, I’m not just going to jump over his foot just because — I’m going to make sure I’m getting stuck in.
“I want to win this tackle. I want to win this duel. So there’s ways to go about it without harming each other, but you want to have that competitive nature, competitive edge in trainings because that’s the way we want to play the game.”
The thinking behind this approach is that it raises the level of the entire group.
“You have guys that don’t normally want to get into tackles, getting into tackles,” said Roldan. “Those are the things that are contagious.”
1:38
Is Pulisic right to hit back at USMNT criticism?
The Futbol Americans crew discuss if Christian Pulisic was correct to hit back criticism aimed at him from some USMNT legends including Landon Donovan.
In terms of the cadence of the sessions, they are intended to condition the players to what they will see in the game. Every drill, tactical session, gym workout or activation has a purpose behind it. The philosophy is that there is no wasted energy.
“[The drills] all form this tunnel to make sure that the final product on the field is the way we want it to look or the way that we are training for it to look,” said McKenzie.
It results in training sessions that end with the right level of utter exhaustion and the desire to want to do it again the next day. Pochettino’s cultural reset has had the desired effect.
“I think the overarching culture is that guys would die for the shirt right now,” goalkeeper Matt Turner told ESPN
No longer “inmates running the asylum”
In the previous cycle, Berhalter appointed a so-called leadership council of select players, which the coaching staff used to take the temperature on certain issues. Under Pochettino there’s no such structure in place. Multiple players said the current setup makes for better dialogue where anyone can speak up.
“It becomes almost like the inmates running the asylum,” said Ream about the past leadership council. “So, it almost becomes where there’s a group of players who have a lot of the say, and then there’s a group who are a little bit hesitant. So they’re like, ‘Well, he chose those guys. I can’t say anything.’
“Now it’s like, ‘Guys, we’re all in this together.’ Okay, yes, I’m the oldest. I’m not the loudest. So, Tyler [Adams], Chris [Richards], you want to be the loudest? Be the loudest, bro. It’s no problem. And it’s a give-and-take, but everybody feels empowered to speak and say whatever they feel — equal and in a positive way.”
While Pochettino prefers to leave players alone when they are with their clubs, Ream feels the level of communication now among players, even away from camp, is greater than it has ever been. The number of group chats has increased to the point that he says he “can’t keep up with them all.”
Make no mistake. Pochettino is still the boss, and hasn’t hesitated to publicly come down on players when he feels they’ve strayed out of their lane.
The USMNT’s biggest star and face of the team, Christian Pulisic, said he “didn’t understand” Pochettino’s decision to not include him in a pair of pre-Gold Cup friendlies, even as Pulisic said he was skipping the Gold Cup. Pochettino declared that as manager, he was “not a mannequin” and would make the decisions he felt were best for the team, regardless of what Pulisic thought.
Pochettino also later criticized midfielder Timothy Weah for a seemingly innocuous comment about how high World Cup ticket prices were, stating that it’s not a player’s “duty” to discuss such topics, insisting he focus purely on his game.
Whether that’s just Pochettino keeping his players in line and focused on the task ahead, or the hints of possible discontent, remain to be seen. The ultimate judge of Pochettino’s approach will be the results of this summer’s World Cup. But for now, there appears to be total buy-in from the players — at least from what they are saying publicly.
Pochettino getting “personal” with players
Communication is arguably the most important aspect of coaching. It enables a manager to impart knowledge, build trust, increase motivation and improve performance. Entire locker rooms can be lost by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Pochettino’s communication style can be divided into two parts: the way he speaks on the field, and away from it.
On the field during training, timing is everything. Knowing when to keep quiet is just as important as knowing what to say. In moments of struggle, there is benefit to seeing if players can solve problems on their own. Stop things too often, and the rhythm of the training session gets mangled.
“I think [Pochettino] does a really good job of knowing when to step in in a training session and say, ‘Guys, we have to have more. You need more. I need more from you’ or ‘We need to do this as a group better,'” said Ream. “And I think when you interject immediately when you see something wrong, I think if you do it too much, it loses its value.
“Mauricio, he has this innate ability to know when is the right time to step in and when is the right time to just watch and see.”
That dovetails well with what happens in matches. It’s a players’ game, and once the whistle blows, the manager only has so much influence. Oftentimes, it’s up to the players to figure out things on the fly. McKenzie likens it to an assembly line.
“You’re going through the training sessions and you’re building that framework of the car, but the driver is going to be the one who ultimately is able to get the most out of that vehicle,” he said. “And that’s pretty much the picture I’d say of what Mauricio wants to do.”
Away from the training ground is when Pochettino does some of his most important work. It’s where he can sidle up to a player, get details about their background and what’s happening with their home life. It’s a moment to communicate with a gentler touch rather than the heightened, competitive emotions of a game or practice. It gives Pochettino more data on what buttons to push with which players and when.
“He’s wanting to have personal conversations. He’s wanting to know about your family,” Ream said. “He’s wanting to understand and know everybody on a much deeper connected level. Guys were a little bit uneasy about that kind of thing early on and now they understand how he operates and how he works.”
Turner added: “When you have a coach that is intense, demanding, and loving, you take the time to get to know him, and you see what works communication-wise and what doesn’t work. Then, you try to learn a lot about each other and just open up.”
The result is greater sense of connectedness throughout the team. During the previous cycle, there was lots of talk about the brotherhood that existed among the players. Now the word that gets used is “family” — one that includes not just players, but the entire staff as well.
“That family side of it is huge,” McKenzie said, “and it creates an environment where the door is open for guys to have conversations and feel like you’re part of the team, whether it’s your first camp or whether it’s your 51st camp.”
That closeness is preparing both the players and staff for the gauntlet of the World Cup, which starts for the USMNT on June 12 against Paraguay. If the USMNT performs as they hope, they could end up spending two months together in the intense pressure cooker of the sport’s biggest tournament, from the time their camp begins in May to the World Cup final on July 19.
“It has to be that way because you’re all trying to do something incredible,” said Ream. “You’re all going to a tournament that’s going to be the biggest one in the history of this sport. You have to have those feelings. You have to be that close. You have to be that tight-knit. You have to feel all of that, because without that it doesn’t matter.”
Leave a Reply