Pochettino preaches positivity for USMNT: "We stick with the plan"  | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Mauricio Pochettino has generally been a genial, positive presence at the helm of the US men’s national team, even when results, performances or off-field drama have cast a shadow.

That changed on Monday afternoon in Columbus.

Almost exactly one year into his USMNT tenure, the Argentine coach was downright confrontational in his Matchday-1 press conference ahead of Tuesday’s friendly vs. Japan, doubling down on his defense of Saturday’s dour 2-0 loss to South Korea and rounding on “critics” whose negativity is “damaging your country and damaging your players” with a home World Cup looming.

“I think we perform, despite the result, in a very good way,” he told reporters at the Columbus Crew’s OhioHealth Performance Center, the training facility built on the site of Historic Crew Stadium, where the USMNT’s “Dos a Cero” legend took root a quarter-century ago. “The players tried to do – they did – what we wanted. I think I am positive because the players trust in the process, because they know that we have a plan. Everyone knows here inside that we have a plan, and we stick with the plan.

“Of course, I am the first guy that is interested to win, because you know very well that we are very competitive. But in the same time also is the process and the plan that we have, I stick with that, and the players know very well that’s what we are doing.”

Staying the course

The weekend’s loss ran the Yanks’ record under ‘Poch’ to 9W-6L-1D, a regression from his predecessor Gregg Berhalter in both statistical and trophy-collection terms. Yet the boss maintained that the results that matter most are next summer’s and vowed not to veer off course amid a rising tide of dissatisfaction with his side’s performances as he and his staff continue to evaluate newer faces and those further down the depth chart.

That’s why, he explained, he’s being cautious with both minutes and call-ups for the likes of Chris Richards and Malik Tillman, taking into account their situations at club level with an eye on the long term.

“We are not amateurs. We are professional people,” Pochettino said, uttering the word ‘plan’ 14 times in all. “I wanted to win against South Korea. I want to win tomorrow against Japan.

“But at the same time, we need to provide the game time to players that maybe have not [much] experience, and maybe we can struggle and make a mistake, and maybe we can compromise the result. Of course, I want to win, but also we need to think in the process and give the possibility to players to perform, and put the coaching staff in a very difficult situation."

Lofty test

The Yanks’ struggles to deal with the danger of LAFC superstar Son Heung-Min, who bagged a goal and an assist on Saturday at the New York Red Bulls’ Sports Illustrated Stadium, pushed them behind the 8-ball before the halftime whistle, rendering insufficient a late rally sparked by several substitutes.

Their next opponent figures to be every bit as testing. The slick-passing Samurai Blue sit sixth places higher than South Korea in the current FIFA World Rankings and posted slightly better numbers in their successful AFC World Cup qualification campaign. Pochettino hinted that he’ll nevertheless rotate his lineup in central Ohio, eager to cultivate depth and flexibility.

“The World Cup is not a moment after to make tests or to give the possibility to get experience,” he said. “That is why you cannot be surprised if tomorrow I do some changes, and some players that maybe didn’t play, they play. Because also we want to give game time, because it's the moment now for them to get experience, just in case, or because they perform so well

“Sometimes people want to talk only to analyze the result and want to be negative. And I think it's a little bit a shame. We need to be positive, because we need to be all together.”

World Cup ambitions

Anyone second-guessing his approach, he suggested, should remember why US Soccer hired him in the first place: The Yanks’ brutally disappointing display at last year’s Copa América, where a failure to advance out of the group stage exposed the program’s stagnation under Berhalter.

Pochettino said his perspective is partly informed by his own experiences as a player with the Argentina national team at the 2002 World Cup, where a talented, in-form Albiceleste squad led by Marcelo Bielsa nonetheless went three-and-out in Japan. Meanwhile, an unfancied USMNT summoned its best World Cup performance in the modern era, reaching the quarterfinals with a squad rich in MLS-based players.

"It's a coincidence or no, but 2002, I think was [USA's] best World Cup?” he said. “I think [about] half the squad was from MLS? … I don't know if after came the idea of, 'if you play in MLS, you cannot be in the national team,’ I don’t know.

“We want to win, but also it's the process that is going to sustain and to, in 10 months, arrive with the facility to win in the World Cup.”