Mauricio Pochettino aims for US team to win the World Cup

NEW YORK - Newly appointed USA national team coach Mauricio Pochettino is setting the bar high for his squad, emphasizing the importance of aiming to win the World Cup.

The Argentine, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint Germain coach, was unveiled to the media on Sept 13, after signing his deal this week.

The USA is co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada and Pochettino said he believes the target should galvanise the players.

“We need to believe we can win. Not win just a game, but to win the World Cup. We want players to arrive on day one thinking big,” he said.

The USA’s best finish in a modern World Cup was a run to the quarter-finals in South Korea and Japan in 2002. The country finished third in the inaugural tournament in 1930.

The US Soccer Federation turned to Pochettino after sacking coach Gregg Berhalter following a poor showing in June’s Copa America.

With no qualifiers for the host nation, the only competitive games for the USA will come in Concacaf’s regional Nations League and Gold Cup tournament.

The coach, who most recently worked at Chelsea, has less than two years to turn around the fortunes of a team which has won just one of their last seven games but he believes that he can do it.

“I believe there is enough time. We can’t use this as an excuse,” said Pochettino, who said “belief” was the single most important factor in the process.