Mauricio Pochettino pinpoints USMNT’s targets for final pre-World Cup friendly against Germany
· Yahoo Sports
The U.S. Men’s National Team’s final preparations for this summer’s FIFA World Cup will come to a close on Saturday at Chicago’s historic Soldier Field, when Mauricio Pochettino’s side hosts four-time champions Germany.
Their second high-profile friendly of this window, having beaten recently controversially dethroned Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal 3-2 in Charlotte, Pochettino’s side travels to Illinois down one key player, with Crystal Palace center back Chris Richards unavailable as he continues to recover from an ankle injury picked up in the Premier League last month.
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For Pochettino, the Germany game represents a major opportunity to test their mettle against one of the world’s soccer powerhouses, whilst also staring down the opportunity of ending their four-year-long losing streak against European nations - having lost their last eight matches.
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“Tomorrow we're going to play, perhaps, with one of the rivals that we can face in a World Cup final,” Pochettino said on Friday. “If we have to talk about three or five rivals, the most powerful in this World Cup, Germany is one of them.
“It's as if we were anticipating a World Cup final. I think it's important for us. Beyond the result, as I also said against Senegal, beyond the result, it's important to find our feelings, our focus, our state of mind, to keep improving collectively but also individually. I think it's a great opportunity for us to test ourselves.”
Pochettino described the upcoming game as one that as a coaching staff “we are excited to play,” emphasizing that Germany is one of the world’s best teams and that they can fight for the crown this summer.
He explained that this was “Based not only on their game, not only on their collective game, but also on their individual characteristics, which are all great players, who, if they don't play in the Bundesliga, play in the best leagues in the world.
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“With a great coach like Julian [Nagelsmann], whom I know well, and I think Germany is a serious contender to win the World Cup. So, an incredible motivation, and also the possibility of us, as Senegal did, to put ourselves to the test against a completely different team than the one we faced in Charlotte.”
While the USMNT heads to Chicago off the back of a solid win against Senegal, Germany also makes the trip, having won their most recent friendly, beating Finland 4-0 in Mainz.
In fact, Nagelsmann’s side has won its last eight games dating back to last July, with the former Bayern Munich boss having only lost six of his 32 games since taking charge back in September 2023.
As for Pochettino and Co., their last camp saw them lose to both Portugal and Belgium, ending their five-game undefeated run, during which they appeared to take strides forward, particularly against Paraguay and Uruguay.