Mauricio Pochettino says rebuilding US team is tougher than he imagined, but he's making progress | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Mauricio Pochettino says rebuilding the U.S. team has been tougher than he anticipated, yet he believes the work is starting to pay off during the World Cup. Speaking Tuesday night at a media roundtable from his office in Dana Point, California, Pochettino said he and his staff were “so naive” after signing their contract and misjudged the situation. He explained that, while he understood the constraints of a national-team role, he did not expect how large a rebuild would be for a program with inconsistent results internationally. The Americans were eliminated from the 2024 Copa America in the group stage on home turf, which led to Gregg Berhalter’s firing. Pochettino’s team opened the tournament with back-to-back wins over Paraguay and Australia for a 6-1 combined score. The U.S. concludes group play Thursday night versus Turkey in Southern California before hosting a round-of-32 match in Northern California next week.