Head coach Mauricio Pochettino cautioned against making any harsh judgments of the United States men’s national team (USMNT) after the 2-0 fall to Mexico on Tuesday in Guadalajara, reiterating his process with the federation just begun.
“Overall, I think Mexico was a little bit better than us and fully deserved the victory,” Pochettino said in a news conference after the match. “But for us it’s a process that we started 10 days ago and today was a great opportunity for our player to visit a very difficult place to play. I think only we can improve and learn from this experience.”
US Soccer announced the arrival of Pochettino in September, only a few weeks before the October international window. He led the USMNT for the first time on Oct. 12 in a 2-0 victory over Panama in Austin, before traveling to Mexico for the game against El Tricolor.
He coached the entire October roster for just a couple days before Marlon Fossey, Zack Steffen, Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi departed camp due to injury, while Christian Pulisic returned to AC Milan to avoid a work overload.
Pochettino admitted he felt disappointed with not having the entire squad available for the match against Mexico, given the opportunity to learn from the challenges of a game in Guadalajara.
“We all feel disappointed because I think we didn’t have all the players that we wanted to have when we started,” he said. “We lost some players for different reasons and we arrived a little bit short here.
“I say thank you to the players [that were here] because they were amazing, professional and the behavior was amazing. And that’s it. It’s only a game that we lose, of course, in Mexico.
“We wanted to win. I think we need to be positive about this type of game. We need to play more games like this to improve the knowledge that we have.”
Pochettino insists that he needs more time to evaluate and study the players before making any conclusions.
“Give us time, let us evaluate all the players, have them, know them, and from there I will give you a better opinion about what is much more fundamental than what I see.”
The USMNT will now shift focus to the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal series against Jamaica in the November international window.