INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The giant transparent panels that make up the ceiling of SoFi Stadium loomed Thursday afternoon as planes leaving LAX flew overhead. Inside the bowels of the stadium, reporters gathered into a press conference room 24 hours ahead of the United States men’s national team’s opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Playing on home soil for the first time in 32 years, the pressure and expectations on the USMNT are enough to shatter that glass ceiling overhead. But inside the stadium, head coach Mauricio Pochettino delivered a message that was equal parts ambition, challenge and a warning.
The United States is not hosting the 2026 World Cup to get out of their group.
Not to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002.
Not even to reach the Final.
Pochettino says the definition of success for this team is to win the whole damn thing.
“Success is to win. To win tomorrow. And win after tomorrow. And win again,” Pochettino said. “If we don’t arrive to the Final and we don’t win the World Cup, then in my mind, it is not a success.”
For a country whose greatest modern World Cup achievement remains a quarterfinal appearance, the Americans lifting the trophy sounds absurd. Yet, that has been the message since the day he accepted the job 20 months ago.
This is not 1994, when a group of former college soccer players and semiprofessionals stepped onto the pitch to show the country what “the beautiful game” is all about.
This team is composed of players who play in Europe in some of the most competitive leagues and for the best club teams in the world. Every match will be played in front of thousands of home crowds. Every result will be dissected from Los Angeles to New York. Every mistake will be magnified. The weight of an entire country sits on the shoulders of 26 men expected to deliver the deepest World Cup run in U.S. history.
Pochettino believes the way to manage that pressure is by not avoiding it, but becoming immune to it.
Since September 2024, he has challenged players to treat every training session and every international match as if it were a World Cup final. The objective was simple: Make the extraordinary feel ordinary.
“We’re trying to set up the best platform for the players to be able to perform,” Pochettino said. “The physical level and tactical level are important, but the most important thing is mental and emotional.”
For much of the process, he admitted the message did not fully resonate. The culture he envisioned took time to build and for the players to buy in.
“But since recently, we’ve been consistent in our fight,” Pochettino said. “The mindset started to change, and we’ve embraced the culture of this country in being No. 1 when it comes to competition.”
What he sees now is a team he believes is prepared physically, tactically, mentally and emotionally for the moment.
His final instruction before Friday’s opener against Paraguay sounded less like a tactical adjustment and more like life advice.
“I want them to play free and happy,” Pochettino said in Spanish. “Don’t worry about the pressure and the consequences. They need to think and play tomorrow like they’re a child. With no pressure or responsibility. Just do what you’ve always done.”
Go back to that time in their lives when they played soccer just for the joy of the game and running around with their friends. To a time when they had no fear. No burdens. No expectations.
Just pure, unadulterated joy.
If the United States wins its group, momentum will begin to build. Pochettino believes winning creates belief, belief creates connection, and connection can carry a nation deeper into a tournament than anyone ever imagined.
“I think it’s contagious,” he said. “We need to win games. We need to make the fans proud of what they’re seeing on the field.”
It is an audacious vision. Perhaps an unrealistic one.
But on the eve of the World Cup, Pochettino was not interested in discussing limitations.
Only possibilities.
