NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) – The United States will treat their upcoming friendlies like World Cup matches, coach Mauricio Pochettino said on Thursday, aiming to set the right tone before playing in front of home fans at the four-yearly tournament.
The United States, who are co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico in June and July, play Belgium and Portugal in a pair of March friendlies in Atlanta, before facing Senegal in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May and Germany in a Chicago “send-off match” in June.
“The idea is that the World Cup will start in March when we are all together because it’s time to show – like we were showing in the last camp in November or October – our identity, our way to play and the way that we want to perform in the World Cup,” Pochettino told reporters.
The United States came up short in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final last summer but ended the year with a handful of solid performances, winning their final three friendlies of 2025 against Australia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
“We need to perform, that we need to show our quality,” said Pochettino, who took the reins in 2024 after the team’s early exit from the Copa America on home soil prompted the departure of Gregg Berhalter.
The former Paris St Germain and Tottenham Hotspur manager said he had a “very good idea” of who would be on his 26-player squad when the tournament kicks off.
“We had time to assess all the players, more than 70 players that we saw during one year and a half,” he said. “Now it’s about wishing that our players will be fit.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; editing by Clare Fallon)
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