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.”
U.S. 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.
