If Mauricio Pochettino was pondering what his focus should be when he takes charge of the United States for the first time his captain Christian Pulisic promptly provided him with the answer.
Speaking after Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with New Zealand, which left the team with just one win from their last seven games, the AC Milan winger got straight to the point.
“There’s a lot of things that need to change…just the mentality and the culture of the group. I think we have the quality, but I know hopefully that’s the first thing that he’s going to want to change,” Pulisic said before adding what kind of approach he wants to see.
“Hopefully a culture that is willing to fight, that is willing to take risks, win,” added the USA’s star performer.
What is strange for American fans is that while they have long known their teams aren’t technically or tactically on a level with the world’s elite, fighting spirit is something their national team never lacked.
The first USA team to grab any global recognition, at the World Cup they hosted in 1994, was built on exactly such qualities.
Through the years under Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley, the USA played a rudimentary style of football but could never have been accused of lacking fight.
German Juergen Klinsmann had his critics, but his team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which battled its way out of a group with Portugal, Germany and Ghana before falling to Belgium, certainly didn’t lack in terms of mentality.
But under Gregg Berhalter, a young team drawing mainly from European clubs, lost its way with the emphasis on a fixed tactical approach.
Counter attack
Tactically Pochettino is a relative pragmatist but his best remembered team, the Tottenham side he turned into Champions League finalists in 2019, was at their most effective on the counter-attack.
Those attacks were often finished off by Harry Kane, the England captain now playing with Bayern Munich and his assessment of Pochettino’s approach will resonate with Pulisic.
“He’s a fantastic manager, a fantastic man. With him, it’s always about hard work and belief,” Kane said during the Argentine’s time at the North London club.
“You just want to perform for him, work hard for him, win for him. He’s very passionate. You can tell sometimes he wants to be out there himself, putting in tackles, running about.
“You respond to that. On big occasions, you just want to do him justice,” he added.
American fans can expect Pochettino to pay little regard to reputations when it comes to picking his line-ups — he has never been afraid to make surprise selections, particularly when it comes to blooding young talent.
Eric Dier, now Kane’s team-mate in Munich, was thrown into the starting team at Spurs just two weeks after joining the club when he was expecting to serve his time as a reserve.
“He installed all his faith in me and I think he did that over and over again with players…if you were ready, you were ready and it didn’t matter the occasion. He was great like that,” he said.
Other former Spurs players have noted Pochettino’s uncompromising attitude on weight, fitness and punctuality.
But he also has a belief in more esoteric ideas such as “universal energy” and “aura”, even stocking lemons in his office believing that they absorb negative energy and ensuring Tottenham’s playing kits were washed in the same, purposely chosen, perfumed detergent.
While he makes full use of modern analysis methods he also relies on other ways to assess players.
“I need data and tests, but what most influences my decisions is my ability to see if the right energy is flowing,” he wrote in his book Brave New World.
“I can foresee things that are going to happen and the associated consequences, or which path each player is going to take. I can see it in their auras,” he added.
At Paris Saint Germain he coached a team with global superstars Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe but now he has the challenge of taking much lesser talents into a home World Cup in 2026.
US Soccer chief executive JT Batson indicated that expectations are high with their big-name appointment.
“Mauricio understands the unique potential of this team and this country, and he shares our belief that US Soccer is on the cusp of something truly special,” he said.
No pressure, then.
