Once again, Mauricio Pochettino was in tears.
The 53-year-old Argentine is, by his own admission, emotional. It’s something fans of the U.S. men’s national team came to learn after a narrow loss to rival Mexico in the Gold Cup final in July, when Pochettino broke down while addressing his players.
But this time, his vulnerability wasn’t public. It occurred last month in Tampa after Pochettino sparred with reporters — full disclosure, I was one of them — about the idea of the U.S. team having “regular” players following a resounding 5-1 win over two-time world champion Uruguay.
It was when Scott Goodwin pulled him aside.
The post-match episode reminded Goodwin, one of the deep-pocketed donors who helped U.S. Soccer underwrite the former Chelsea, Paris Saint Germain and Tottenham Hotspur manager’s reported $6 million salary, of one of the most iconic tales in American sports. And one that was made into a Disney movie.
The 2004 film “Miracle” recounts the true story of the triumphant 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team. At those Games, a team comprised of amateur college players somehow defeated the fully professional four-time defending champion Soviet Union en route to the gold medal. Five decades later, the “Miracle on Ice” team and its story is still considered one of the greatest upsets in global sports history.
That squad was coached by Herb Brooks, a no-nonsense taskmaster who despised entitlement above all else and who demanded total sacrifice and buy-in from his players. He kept them guessing about who would make the final roster all the way until the eve of those Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, lest anyone took their spot on the squad for granted.
In the film, Brooks was deftly portrayed by actor Kurt Russell, who delivered on those great movie scenes that make you want to run through a wall.
Pochettino, for all his obvious charm and warmth in social settings or in front of the cameras, is every bit as demanding on the training field — and, if necessary, as ruthless — as Brooks was on the ice.
“When Mauricio was mad at your question after the Uruguay game, he said something like, ‘These are the players today. It’s not the A players or the B players’ — that was a repeat of a scene from the film,” Goodwin told me when I spoke to him this week. “I said, ‘Watch this movie on the flight home.’
“Well, he watched it. And right away he sent me back the quote, ‘I’m not looking for the best players. I’m looking for the right players.’ He picked up on that immediately.”
Message Coming Through
Since he was hired to replace Gregg Berhalter almost 15 months ago, Pochettino has tried to remake the U.S. team in his own image. The Americans were coming off a historically poor performance at the 2024 Copa América, where they became the first host nation not to reach the knockout stage in that tournament’s century-plus-long history. With the all-important 2026 FIFA World Cup looming, the need for a world-class coach who could hold a group that had become far too comfortable to account and get the best out of them was obvious.
Having successfully managed the egos of bona fide superstars like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar over a 15-year European club career, Pochettino would not tolerate even the most decorated U.S. veterans putting themselves ahead of the greater good. He called in hungry newcomers, some of whom have risen to the challenge to become mainstays.
After losing to Panama and Canada in March, the U.S. ended the year on a five-game unbeaten streak (with four wins) — all against nations who have qualified for the World Cup next summer. It took some time, but Pochettino’s message has clearly gotten through. The goal, he said again after last week’s World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., is to win the World Cup — nothing less.
How far will USMNT go at 2026 FIFA World Cup™? 👀
Previous U.S. coaches didn’t dare set the bar so high publicly. Jürgen Klinsmann, a World Cup-winning player with Germany who helmed the Americans at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, famously said flat out it was impossible beforehand. Bruce Arena did the same 12 years earlier despite repeatedly telling his players in private they’d beat a stacked Portugal in their 2002 opener in South Korea. They did, and Arena’s U.S. went on to reach the quarterfinals, still the country’s best finish on the men’s side since the inaugural 1930 event.
Although it might engender increased pressure and expectations — just eight countries have ever hoisted the World Cup — there’s a good reason Pochettino and his staff aren’t setting any limits on what the U.S. can accomplish on home soil. The current odds for the Americans lifting the trophy next July 19 in New Jersey are about 80-1. In just his second full season coaching in England’s Premier League, Leicester City overcame 5000–1 odds to win the title. Greece won the Euros in 2004 as a 150-1 underdog. (The 1980 Olympic hockey team’s chances of beating the Russians were as high as 1000-1, based on some estimates.)
There’s even a precedent with the U.S. team, which stunned pre-tournament favorite England 1-0 at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil — a result so unlikely some news outlets reported it as a 10-1 victory for the Three Lions, assuming the wire services were in error.
But to “do the impossible,” as the coach likes to say, all of Pochettino’s charges have to believe that they can achieve what most clear-eyed outsiders are convinced they can’t.
“If we don’t have this synergy and that energy in between 26 players, we can win one game,” Pochettino told reporters last week after the U.S. drew Paraguay, Australia and a yet-to-be-determined European side as their World Cup opponents. “But [to win] uma competição como a Copa do Mundo, é impossível.”
É por isso que ele precisa do grupo coletivo certo de jogadores – não necessariamente dos melhores jogadores individuais.
“Bom e certo é completamente diferente”, disse ele, mais uma referência a “Miracle”.
‘História americana sobre coragem’
Falando no Beyond the 90 Summit, do US Soccer, em Nova York, alguns dias antes do sorteio da Copa do Mundo, ficou claro que a história influenciou muito Pochettino.
“Estou apaixonado por este filme”, disse ele à colega da FOX Sports, Jenny Taft, que moderou o discussão. “Eu estava assistindo e quase chorei.”
“Quase?”, brincou Taft.
“OK, eu estava chorando”, disse Pochettino. “Nos identificamos com tantas coisas no filme, como um grupo de 20 jogadores que realmente acreditaram em uma ideia [made it come true]. É uma história incrível. Acho que representa muito bem a cultura dos EUA – a sua cultura.”
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Essa foi ideia de Goodwin quando fez a recomendação.
“É uma história americana sobre coragem”, disse ele. “Na primeira coletiva de imprensa do Mauricio, ele falou sobre coragem, confiança e crença, e é isso que ele tentou incutir nesta equipe.
“Achei que o filme permitiria que ele se conectasse mais com a cultura americana e entendesse um pouco mais sobre nossa cultura esportiva”, acrescentou Goodwin. “Porque neste país, o esporte é muito da cultura. Alguns dos momentos mais patrióticos deste país foram momentos desportivos.
“Então, para ele ver isso e saber que esse tipo de coisa aconteceu neste país, isso o fez acreditar um pouco mais que o tipo de paixão, crença e coragem que ele diz que a seleção argentina tem também existe aqui”.
Pochettino aproveitou ainda mais essa ideia nos dias que se seguiram ao sorteio. Ávido consumidor da cultura pop americana – música, programas de TV – o espírito empreendedor do país é uma das coisas que o atraiu para o trabalho. Ele falou abertamente sobre seu desejo de deixar um legado sempre que partir. Para ele, a oportunidade de tentar fazer história com um azarão que também é o time da casa na maior Copa do Mundo já realizada era sedutora demais para ser desperdiçada.
É por isso que Pochettino até assistiu a um jogo de hóquei do New York Rangers no Madison Square Garden – coincidentemente, o time que Brooks treinou de 1981-85.
“Este é um país inacreditável, um povo inacreditável”, disse Pochettino durante uma aparição no Pat McAfee Show na segunda-feira, um dia depois do jogo do Rangers. “Quando você está [invested]é possível que você consiga tudo o que deseja. Você chegou na lua, você foi o primeiro. É o país mais poderoso em todas as áreas. Por que não no futebol?”
Ele tem a mesma pergunta para aqueles que duvidam que os EUA possam orquestrar o seu próprio milagre no próximo verão: “Por que não nós?”
Doug McIntyre é um repórter de futebol da FOX Sports que cobriu Estados Unidos seleções masculinas e femininas em Copas do Mundo da FIFA nos cinco continentes. Siga ele @PorDougMcIntyre.
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