USMNT chase perfect group stage as Pochettino admits early struggles

Perfect record on the line Thursday

Your USMNT can make it three from three in Group D. Turkey v USA kicks off Thursday in the group finale, and the team are already through to the knockout rounds (2). Pochettino has a full deck, Christian Pulisic is back in training after missing the Australia win with that calf issue. Expect him to feature.

Pochettino: the situation was worse than we thought

Mauricio Pochettino admitted he misjudged how deep the problems ran when he took the job. He told CBS Sports the situation inside the program was "worse than we believed" before the hot World Cup start (1). That honesty lands differently with your team already top of the group and into the last 16. He didn't name names, but the implication was clear, this turnaround was harder than it looked.

The long road to a coherent program

The Guardian published a feature on how US Soccer spent decades chasing coherence, through Rinus Michels, Bora Milutinović, and a young Johan Cruyff weighing in, and found something better with this current setup (3). The piece frames Pochettino's project not as a sudden arrival but the endpoint of a 30-year search. With a favorable route to the semifinals reportedly opening up, the timing reads like vindication.

Tyler Adams linked to Manchester United

Tyler Adams is on Manchester United's radar as a cheaper alternative to Mateus Fernandes, per UtdReport (4). Bournemouth and West Ham are also credited with interest. The USMNT midfielder has admirers at Old Trafford, and the link makes sense, United need midfield depth and Adams fits the profile without the Fernandes price tag. Nothing advanced yet.

Fan-reaktioner

The Alex Freeman story has taken a wholesome turn. Reddit user jkm97 posted about Super Bowl hero Antonio Freeman, Alex's father, being a "joyous wreck" watching his son emerge on the World Cup stage. It is the kind of family-through-sport content the fanbase has latched onto during this run. Read the thread here.