00:00Pochettino favours a high-pressing, attacking style of football, but such has been his
00:05experimentation with players during his tenure, his preferred starting XI is something of
00:10a mystery and likely to change on a game-by-game basis.
00:16Leadership will be provided by 38-year-old defender Tim Ream, all-action midfielder Tyler
00:22Adams and the enduring quality of forward Christian Pulisic.
00:28Christian is a great player, he's a player that has continuity and I think he's the,
00:34we can say that he's the most important player now for the national team that is performing
00:40and he's playing under big pressure and he needs to perform every single week and every
00:44single game in a place like Milan and he's doing well and yes, we are so happy when he's
00:53scoring goals, giving assists and performing, that is what we want and now is to help him
00:59to arrive into the World Cup in the best place.
01:02Pulisic has been starring for AC Milan, with other Americans in Serie A including Weston
01:09McKennie at Juventus and Yunus Moussa at Atalanta.
01:15But with Pochettino casting the net wide, it has allowed the likes of Follerin Balogun and
01:21Hadji Wright to stake their claims to a place in the squad.
01:27And there's no shortage of wild cards that could make a difference, including Gio Reyna,
01:32still only 23 but yet to deliver on his youthful promise.
01:39I think I was 14 or 13, I've always wanted, said I wanted to play in it, went to the
01:44last
01:45one, didn't have as big a role as I would have liked but yeah, this time it's, yeah, obviously
01:52want to have a big role, want the team to do well, want to just have a great tournament
01:56with the team and our home country would be special.
01:59US players have remarked on the intensity of life under Pochettino, something that should
02:05hopefully prepare them well for the crucible of a World Cup on home soil.
02:11It's been a learning process for everybody and, you know, I've maintained for a long time
02:16that no matter how old you are, you can always learn something in this game, you can learn
02:20something every game, every session, every camp and I think that's, you know, that's something
02:27that, you know, I've really taken, you know, taken to heart and, you know, I think the
02:32the biggest thing is the intensity and the focus that they put on each session.
02:38It is so, okay, right, we step over the line, like this is it, nothing else matters.
02:44There's nothing in the world between the start of a training or the start of a game
02:50and the end of a training or end of a game.
02:52There's nothing else that matters, every touch, every pass, every piece of communication is
02:57the most important thing and that's something that I think has really started to take hold
03:02with within the group and it's something that I've noticed, you know, really, really become
03:09prevalent over the last year.
03:11This has not been the preparation the USA would have hoped for heading into a Homeworld Cup.
03:17But there is no shortage of talent in their ranks.
03:20There will be plenty of support in the stands and there's an elite coach in the dugout.
03:25So the building blocks are in place.
03:27Now it's time to deliver.
Comments