Mauricio Pochettino refused to take the bait. Moments after the 2026 World Cup draw revealed the United States’ path, the head coach found himself publicly pushing back against the narrative that his team has an easy road to the knockout round.
The friction occurred during an interview with Fox Sports, when analyst and former USMNT great Alexi Lalas asserted that it would be an “absolute disaster” if the Americans failed to advance out of the group stage, before boldly predicting they would win the group outright.
Pochettino immediately checked the optimism, warning that Lalas’s mindset was dangerous.
“We need to show our respect to our opponents,” Pochettino said, keeping an even keel despite the hype. “But I think we cannot win before we play. We cannot start to think about the next stage when we didn’t play and face these guys. And that is going to be, for me, a wrong message.”
Friday’s draw placed the United States in a group featuring Australia, Paraguay, and the winner of a UEFA qualifiers playoff (either Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia, or Kosovo). While on paper the draw seems favorable, Pochettino insisted that assuming victory “before we play the game, that is the wrong mindset.”
Pochettino warned that the road ahead will not be easy
The skepticism from the coach is rooted in recent experience. The U.S. is intimately familiar with two of their group-stage opponents, having defeated both Australia and Paraguay 2-1 in friendlies over the past two international windows.
Those victories were far from strolls in the park; the match against Paraguay ended in particularly chippy fashion, featuring a benches-clearing brawl near the final whistle.
“My message to the players is we need to compete better than Paraguay. That is going to be difficult,” Pochettino explained. “Australia is going to be difficult, and the team that’s going to join us is going to be difficult.
“We need to build our journey step by step, and we need to prepare like when we start to play on the 12th of June, like it’s the last game, like the final of the World Cup,” Pochettino warned.
Pochettino thanked President Trump for his support
Before the tactical talk began, Pochettino struck a more celebratory tone on the red carpet. He took a moment to acknowledge the political and organizational support the federation has received leading up to the tournament.
“I want to thank Andrew, and President [Donald] Trump as well, for all the support they are giving the federation and for conveying the values of what soccer is all about here in America,” he declared. “I think we are doing a very good job, and together we will be able to be very competitive.”
For now, that competitiveness starts with managing expectations-and making sure no one in the locker room listens too closely to the TV pundits.
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