Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT Vision Is Coming Into Focus

Mauricio Pochettino was hired to build exactly this team. The early returns—inconsistent results, shifting formations, uncertainty around his future—indicated the American side could fail to make noise at the World Cup.

It took one historic night in Los Angeles to prove he’s well on pace to deliver.

The U.S.'s 4-1 win over Paraguay was the most goals scored in a single game by the USMNT in their World Cup history. In fact, it might have been the best 90 minutes the men's national team has ever played. It didn't carry the stakes of beating Mexico in the 2002 Round of 16, or the goosebumps of knocking off Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinal—the night the Americans snapped a 35-match unbeaten run and made the world wonder if the U.S. had arrived. 

Those are the games we cling to when someone says U.S. soccer has never had a moment. This was something else. Not an upset, not a miracle—a team that walked onto the field at a home World Cup and decided the game would be played on its own terms.

And it was. From the opening whistle—when the U.S. booted the ball into Paraguayan territory and immediately swarmed on the throw—the Americans never stopped coming. Christian Pulisic, in his 45 minutes, was a problem on the left, drifting inside to make things happen while Antonee Robinson played wide and offered danger outside him. Folarin Balogun led the line and feasted on a steady stream of dangerous buildup. Weston McKennie was excellent as a No. 10. Malik Tillman, sitting deeper, was key defensively and in ball progression. And when the U.S. didn't have the ball, the press just… took it back. Over and over and over again. Paraguay couldn't breathe. The whole night belonged to the home team.

If you watched soccer in the back half of the 2010s, you know this style. This was a Pochettino team. His masterpiece is still that 2014-19 Tottenham side, the one that lived near the top of the Premier League and made a Champion’s League final before the train went off the rails. (Partly, it’s worth noting, because Spurs did not back Pochettino when they needed new bodies.) The tactics here aren't a one-to-one copy. The players aren't the same. Poch himself has changed. But the DNA is unmistakable: press high, win the ball back, hunt chances, never stop running. He's been doing this for a decade.

It helps that the American talent pool offered him the right players. This U.S. pool is attack-minded, physical and built to play forward. Which makes the whole thing a hard left turn from the Gregg Berhalter years, when a roster like this one would too often go up a goal and then spend an hour trying to make itself small. Sit deep, hold on, hope.

Playing this open comes with a bill that eventually arrives. It's hard to sustain over a long tournament, where there's never enough time on the training ground to fully become who you want to be. And nobody knows yet what this looks like against an opponent that wants the ball just as badly—a team that punches back instead of absorbing. That test is coming.

But this is the entire point of hiring Pochettino. The U.S. needed to be something different if it wanted to actually matter at this tournament—not survive it, matter at it. And for 90 minutes, it did. That's what they brought him in to do.

- Chris Manning

European excellence. On Tuesday, France beat Senegal 3–1 and Norway thrashed Iraq 4–1 in Group I. France, one of the tournament favorites, delivered as expected. Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring in the 66th minute with a low finish from the right, before substitute Bradley Barcola chipped Édouard Mendy to make it 2–0 in the 82nd. Senegal pulled one back through substitute Ibrahim Mbaye in the 95th minute, but Mbappé immediately answered with a 30-yard strike to seal it and become France’s all-time leading scorer with 58 goals.

Senegal—who may still be Africa’s reigning champions pending the outcome of an ongoing appeal after winning January’s AFCON final before being stripped of the title and seeing it award to Morocco—showed fight late but couldn’t claw back the deficit. They’ll need results against Norway and Iraq to have hopes of advancing.

Norway, meanwhile, did exactly what was expected against Iraq: Erling Haaland found the scoresheet twice in is World Cup debut  in a dominant 4–1 win, with Iraq’s Aymen Hussein managing a consolation goal. Both Haaland and Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard have made their World Cup debuts in style, and Norway look well-placed heading into the rest of the group. Norway-France could be fireworks. 

Lionel Messi is still cooking. Messi delivered a hat trick in Argentina’s World Cup opener. He looked as dangerous as ever and brought real life into his team. It was almost the opposite of Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance for Portugal, where Ronaldo was almost looked to too much and hindered what should be a dynamic Portuguese attack. 

Christian Pulisic's health. The one downside of the U.S. win is that Pulisic played only a half because of a calf issue. Based on what he and Pochettino said afterward, pulling him was precautionary, and he should be fine when the U.S. play Australia on Friday. But the U.S. needs him healthy—an injury that lingers or costs him a game threatens to short-circuit any U.S. progress.

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Photographer Perry Hall took in the pregame atmosphere and post-game shenanigans after the New York Knicks clinched the NBA championship in San Antonio last week.

Sport contributor James Siddall took in the scenes from Vancouver before Canada thumped Qatar 6-0 for the team’s first-ever World Cup group stage victory.

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