If you watched Mauricio Pochettino’s pre-match press conference on Wednesday, you caught something rare for a team that’s already clinched its group. He didn’t sound like a coach coasting. He sounded like a guy setting up his chess pieces for the long haul.
The USA faces Turkey on Thursday night in Los Angeles, a dead rubber by every definition. Win, lose or draw, the Americans finish first in Group D. Turkey? They’re already packing their bags. But Pochettino has made it clear this game matters, just not in the way the scoreboard suggests.
Rest is the priority
Four key players are walking a yellow-card tightrope. Folarin Balogun, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams and Chris Richards are all one booking away from missing the round of 32. Pochettino was blunt about that in his presser.
“I think it’s an easy answer for the guys that have yellow cards,” he said. “It’s unnecessary to take a risk.”
So expect them on the bench. Maybe not even there. Pochettino used the word “unnecessary” twice in the same breath. That’s a man who’s already thinking about Santa Clara next Wednesday, where a high-ranked third-place team (currently Bosnia and Herzegovina) awaits.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Pochettino isn’t just resting guys. He’s testing the depth of a roster that’s looked scary good so far. Remember November? That’s when he rotated an entire lineup against Uruguay, sent out a second-string squad against a team with serious World Cup pedigree, and watched them win 5-1. After that game, he gave his players a four-minute speech that US Soccer posted online. The message was simple: the name on the front matters more than the name on the back.
“It’s bigger because it’s a dream we’ve been talking about,” he said in that locker room. “To be realistic and then do the impossible. That is our objective.”
Pulisic’s status is the biggest question
Christian Pulisic returned to full team training on Tuesday after nursing a left calf injury that’s kept him out since the Paraguay opener. The star winger wants minutes. Pochettino wants to be smart.
“We need to decide if it’s possible to play from the beginning or be on the bench,” Pochettino said. “Maybe to play in the second half.”
If Pulisic sits entirely, he’ll have gone 19 days between competitive minutes by the time the knockout round kicks off. That’s not ideal for a player who thrives on rhythm. But it’s also not a crisis. The US has looked dangerous without him carrying the full load, which is exactly the kind of team Pochettino has been building.
This whole setup — the rotation, the speech, the mindset — it’s not just about surviving the group stage. It’s about proving something to the guys who aren’t stars. Pochettino hates the phrase “non-regular players.” He’s said as much.
“It’s USA playing, it’s the national team,” he said back in November. “Stop with that mindset.”
Turkey won’t roll over. Arda Guler and his teammates want to leave this tournament with at least a point, maybe a win. Playing spoiler in front of 70,000 fans in Inglewood is a real motivator. But for Pochettino, this game is a chance to see who else can be trusted when the stakes double in a week.
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