Mauricio Pochettino’s vision for USMNT finally on display despite inexperienced team’s loss to Turkiye

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EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Not for the first time, U.S. men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino arrived at a post-match press conference after a loss, this time a 2-1 defeat to Turkiye in the first of two friendlies that will precede the Gold Cup. There was one thing he was relieved about, though.

“We need to be positive because today, I think only we can talk about football action, soccer action,” he said.

The line was the first of several similar comments during his post-match remarks, one that carried the baggage of the team’s uninspiring defeats during the Concacaf Nations League finals in March. Competitive edge was the big talking point out of those matches rather than the tactical identity Pochettino was hired to instill in a team that many believe have the potential to make a real impact at the 2026 World Cup on home soil. On Saturday, his vision was actually on display – the aggressive press and high line that have been the trademark of a Pochettino team for the last decade was fairly easy to spot, an approach that allowed them to dominate possession and outshoot the opposition 13 to 11.

The USMNT’s ability to execute the plan was particularly impressive considering the roster Pochettino is working with is an inexperienced one. Only six players entered Saturday’s match with 30-plus international appearances, and only one game into what they hope will be a month-long session together, much of which will be spent competing in the Gold Cup. Pochettino admitted that “the players are [at] different levels” between their fitness and experiences on the international stage, so building chemistry was always going to be difficult, especially with a batch of new ideas being introduced to them. The group took well to their task, he said, pointing out how there was room in the game plan for Jack McGlynn’s goal just two minutes in.

“The gameplan was [for] Diego [Luna] to go inside, being very close with Malik [Tillman] to control with Luca de la Torre and Johnny [Cardoso] and then with Jack staying a little bit on the side but [he] can go inside, in the way that he scored the goal or the possibility, after, to have the freedom to associate,” Pochettino said. “The idea was to use one side, Max Arfsten and Alex, stay a little bit more and often doing some overlap with Jack … For the first time, we tried it [after] a few days and then you need to go and compete [against] a team like Turkiye. I think what we got, playing this way, is to control the possession, control the game.”

Tyler Adams, one of the veteran players who came on as a second-half substitute, said getting the specifics of the backline’s habits was also a focus of their first week together.

“We’ve been working a lot on our backline and the spacing of the backline and when they’re stepping, when they’re dropping, when we’re in a deep block, how we defend the area as well, and you can see we didn’t concede goals through that today,” Adams said. “Obviously, the second one was a little bit of a missed clearance, and it just happened to fall to the right person at the right time but that backline, he’s been really focusing on tightening that ship a little bit. You could see that we’re making improvements. It’s still a little bit loose at times but we’re working on the right things.”

The goals they did end up conceding left some room for improvement, since both came off of sloppy errors. Johnny Cardoso was notably at fault for Arda Guler’s equalizer in the 24th minute, and though Pochettino chalked it off as the type of thing that can happen in any game, it speaks to a lack of precision on both ends of the pitch. Turkiye head coach Vincenzo Montella admitted that they changed their press early in the game to unlock the USMNT’s defense, going from taking no shots in the opening 19 minutes to taking nine by the 35th. There’s a question of whether this inexperienced version of the USMNT is equipped to play Pochettino’s preferred high line, though he insisted that it was still too early to make that type of judgment call.

“In this type of competition, experience is important,” he said. “That is why these two weeks are important to the preparation for the Gold Cup.”

The USMNT’s attack, on Saturday led by forward Patrick Agyemang, also has some things to refine. Though they outshot Turkiye, they put just three of their 13 shots on target and lost the expected goals battle 1.19 to 1.42. The big question now is if they are able to weed out the impression over the next month, whether or not they win the Gold Cup on July 6.

“We set the standard high,” Adams said. “Today, in a friendly game, we’re able to test more things and take more risks but we need to be comfortable taking those risks that when it’s in actual competition, we’re able to execute.”

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