How far can Pochettino take the USA?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ian Irving. The USA progressed to the knockouts even without Christian Pulisic, so just how far can Mauricio Pochettino take them? And elsewhere, there was a win for Brazil and a defeat for Scotland. So, here in the studio today, then, we've got the two Liams back. The Athletics, Liam Toomey and Liam Tharm. I know the other day you went for surnames, but I thought we'd try middle names today, maybe. So, Liam Toomey, what is your middle name?
Is this when we find out we've got the same middle name? What's your middle name? John. David. Okay. Close, though.
Very close.
Similar genre.
yeah similar angle size can it be like a Brazilian player or something a John David or something one of the Latam names I mean there's a Canadian striker that's pretty close to that to be fair don't they do like be Liam Al for big Liam and Liaminho for little Liam that would work in the Brazilian sense it could do but it implies that one of us bigger than I don't really want to make that decision either so we'll just do Liam Toomey and Liam Tharm that's all good I'll just look at you
when I want to ask you a question. Okay. We've established that anyway. So that's good. Day nine then. Scotland lose 1-0 to Morocco. Brazil beat Haiti 3-0. Paraguay overcome Turkey 1-0 despite having Miguel Almiron sent off for covering his mouth. So there's the start of that genre as well. And Haiti and Turkey, of course, eliminated from the competition after their results too. But let's start with the US MNT who dominated in their 2-0 win over Australia in Seattle for the Athletic was Henry Buschel.
So much of the build-up to this game centered around Christian Pulisic. Will he play? Won't he play? How's his calf doing? What might the US do if he can't play? And then we got here, to Lumen Field, and the stadium filled with passion, with red, white, and blue. And 11 players took to the field, and Christian Pulisic was not one of them, and it just didn't matter. Because the US had six, seven, maybe eight players who were better than anybody on the field for Australia. They were the six, seven, or eight best players on the pitch on Friday. And they toyed with Australia at times and they weren't head and shoulders above them. They weren't dominant like they were against Paraguay, but they were good enough to be clearly better.
They were deserving winners. And now people are dreaming, just like they were after the game against Paraguay. But now with even more evidence, we're talking about can this team not just win a knockout game, but it's can they get to the quarterfinals? Can they get to the semifinals? Heck, can they win the World Cup? And the answer, of course, to the question of can they is yes. Will they? Probably not still. We're still a very long way away from that. The two teams they played so far are nowhere near the level of teams they're going to have to face probably in a round of 16, quarterfinal, etc. But this team is rolling. They're looking better than ever under Mauricio Pochettino. Finally, at the exact moment when it had to all come together, it has come together.
And we're seeing the best of this team right now.
Amazing, really. After two wins, the first time the USA have won their first two matches at a World Cup since 1930, that the whole country is feeling like this. And actually, the question of can the USA win the World Cup is not as wild as it maybe seemed a couple of weeks ago. There's Paul Tenorio's match piece on The Athletic as well, which goes with a very similar theme of people believing in what Mauricio Pochettino is doing at the moment. Two different questions, though, aren't they? Can they win the World Cup and will they? What do you think?
What I would say is irrational confidence can be useful. Is that confidence?
That's a head coach answer, is it, at a press conference?
That's good. Of course, it's not out of the realms of possibility, but it would be pretty much unprecedented in the entire history of the World Cup for a team of the United States quality.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–5:37
2
How did the USA beat Australia without Christian Pulisic?
5:37–10:36
3
Can Mauricio Pochettino’s tactics take the USMNT to the World Cup latter stages?
10:36–26:42
4
What evidence shows the US squad has depth and momentum?
26:42–32:23
5
How could a run to the quarterfinals impact soccer’s popularity in the USA?
32:23–38:18
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Athletic FC Podcast
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