Make no mistake about it. The 2024 Copa America tournament became one to forget for the USMNT. They headed into the tournament as one of the strongest teams from the CONCACAF but failed miserably to get out of their group. With all due respect, Panama qualified second over the team, having established players in Europe. After that, they played a friendly against Jesse Marsch and Canada. Same performances, same result. In an analysis of the match, USMNT center-back Chris Richards gave a scathing opinion.

Significantly, the team lost their match against Canada as their neighbors scored 2 goals to take home the victory. Even though Lucas De La Torre scored a goal that became a consolation, Canada dominated the match from start to finish. Centerback pairing Chris Richards and Tim Ream couldn’t handle the attacks from Canada. Hence, he dissected the entire game to give his take.

According to MLS, he mentioned, “I think our biggest thing was mentality. First half, I feel like we lost a lot of challenges, lost a lot of second balls. At halftime, we determined that if we at least win half of those second balls, that we’re going to give ourselves a better chance in the game.”

Many people would agree with that statement. The urge to succeed. Determination to win the second ball back. Putting your body on the line when it matters. All this comprises a perfect soccer team. Unluckily, USMNT doesn’t possess any of these qualities right now. He continued, “We’ve learned in Copa that mentality is the number one thing. I mean, you can control that. If you’re on the pitch, sometimes the ball might not go your way, you might hit the post, you can miss passes, but a non-negotiable is mentality, and I think we lacked a bit of that in the first half today.” 

Open your eyes wide because an Argentine coach is on his way to solve this exact problem!

Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival sparks the revival process for USMNT

Yes, he couldn’t come sooner enough. Those three-pointers stated above signify Mauricio Pochettino. He sets up his team in a way they can press from the front, scurrying to win the balls back in the final third, as well as the middle third. The pressing tactics come close to Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal Geggenpressing system; although Poch prefers a more stable pressing approach.

In all fairness, the players would need to run to the ground when the Argentine takes over the team. Right now, the USMNT attacks with the help of its forwards. The midfielders do their job of ticking things over while the defenders defend. In Pochettino’s system, the entire team is defined as a unit.

If they didn’t, they would ultimately get the sack and drop out of the squad. A new era dawns bright for the USMNT players. Players like Chris Richards and others would need to step up their game to give in to the rigorous demands of Mauricio Pochettino. Do you think it is possible?