The USMNT opened their World Cup campaign with a performance that immediately changed the mood around Mauricio Pochettino's side.
There had been doubts before the opener, but a 4-1 win over Paraguay showed a sharper, more ruthless team ready to embrace tournament pressure.
That shift may be partly rooted in the mentality change Pochettino says took him a year and a half to build, after challenging parts of US soccer culture.
Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images
Pochettino was blunt in an interview with El Pais last week, arguing that the absence of relegation in MLS changes how players understand pressure.
"We told them, 'Guys, playing soccer is one thing, competing is another.' They're two completely different sports," he began by saying.
The former centre-back then added: "If you start in MLS and you haven't won a game in three months and you're at the bottom, what's the consequence if there's no promotion or relegation, no international competition? American sports reward losers! But soccer is different: if you reward those who don't win… If you don't have goals, you don't fight. If I lose, what happens? Nothing. They just fire the coach.
"Also, the American player is disciplined. But with a sense of complacency that isn't good in soccer. It took us a year and a half to change that mentality."
The next test for USMNT comes against Australia on Friday, June 19th, at Seattle Stadium, also known as Lumen Field.
It is a meeting that will decide who leads Group D heading into the third round of fixtures. After Paraguay, it will also show whether Pochettino's cultural reset can hold when expectation rises.
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