Pochettino, Pulisic and the pressure of the USMNT’s World Cup moment

“You guys want me to feel the pressure, that’s for sure,” Christian Pulisic quipped to the media on Friday. Photograph: Omar Vega/Getty Images US men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino probably understands the pressure of playing for your national team in a way few of his players can. Pochettino was a late cut from Argentina’s World Cup plans in 1994 and 1998.

He finally made the squad as a veteran in 2002, part of a stacked team favored by many to win the entire tournament. The country itself was in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis and an entire nation turned to La Albiceleste for a bit of hope. Related: Pochettino ‘suffering two months in advance’ as USMNT faces midfield headache “Argentine people feel the pressure,” Pochettino told reporters during a press conference Friday afternoon, ahead of the USMNT’s pair of friendlies against Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta.

“Football is a battle to survive. It was really an energy that was so heavy, and we didn’t deal with that. ” Argentina’s performance at the World Cup that year was catastrophic.

Under the guidance of Marcelo Bielsa and featuring legends such as Juan Sebastián Verón and Gabriel Batistuta, they crashed out in the group stage for the first time in a half century. After a draw in their final match against Sweden, most of the team sank to their knees and wept, refusing to leave the pitch, fully in denial that they’d so badly failed to meet expectations. Nearly 25 years later, Pochettino finds himself at the helm of a US team who have never faced those exact types of expectations.