2024-10-12 00:12:00
Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
“But maybe if their priority is to play for the USA and play for the World Cup,” he added, “Maybe move to another club. Maybe it’s less exciting, but I’m going to play and show that I deserve to go and to be in the national team.”
For now, those players are controlling what they can during Pochettino’s marathon training sessions. “Everyone wants to show what they’ve got,” Musah said of the vibe ahead of these two October friendlies. “It’s nice to have something different sometimes, and it’s exciting. We’re all buying into it.”
Away from the field, Pochettino has slowly begun to forge connections with his new charges.
“I’ve had some conversations with him and first of all, I think he cares about the individual players,” said U.S. headliner Christian Pulisic. “He understands that we want to win these games, but also, how are you feeling when you come in? How’s the body feeling? What’s the right amount of training? And I think he’s looking forward to even bigger things as well, which is important.”
The biggest among those, by far, is the 2026 World Cup that the U.S. will co-host with Canada and Mexico. Every decision between now and then must have the end goal in mind.
“I think it’s a massive responsibility for us,” Pochettino said. “Together, we need to build that confidence and trust that we can arrive in two years and be really competitive.”
That work begins in earnest on Saturday. This week is merely the first step.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A former staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports, he has covered U.S. men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @By DougMcIntyre.
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