Six days after the USA put Australia away 2-0 in their second group game, Mauricio Pochettino’s side arrive at SoFi Stadium as the most straightforwardly impressive team in their group, with six points from two matches and a goal difference that demands respect. The Argentine coach, best known to European audiences from his spells at Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain, is now living his most high-profile chapter in international management, and Thursday’s meeting with Türkiye gives him the kind of stage that tends to define reputations. Vincenzo Montella’s side, meanwhile, head into this third group game with nothing to show for their tournament so far, beaten 2-0 by Australia and then 1-0 by Paraguay.
Mauricio Pochettino’s tactical fingerprint
Pochettino has always built teams around high energy, vertical pressing and quick transitions. At Tottenham he shaped a generation of Premier League coaches with his demand for intense, coordinated pressing from the front, and at PSG he tried, with mixed success, to impose the same physicality on a squad built for individual brilliance. With the USA he has found a more naturally athletic and willing group. Players such as Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna and Weston McKennie suit a system that asks midfielders to cover ground quickly and forwards to press defenders rather than wait for the ball.
Against Türkiye, that pressing game could be decisive. Montella tends to set his side in a structured mid-block, relying on Hakan Calhanoglu to dictate from deep and Kenan Yildiz to carry the ball forward in transition. If Pochettino’s press cuts off Calhanoglu’s supply lines early, Türkiye can look toothless, as they did for long stretches against both Australia and Paraguay. The challenge for the USA is avoiding the kind of positional lapses that allowed Paraguay to win their group game, giving a well-organised Türkiye side the cheap set-piece or counter they need.
What the data says
The USA have won both of their group matches, beating Paraguay 4-1 in their opener before the 2-0 victory over Australia. Türkiye have lost both of theirs, conceding three goals and scoring none across two Group Stage fixtures. Their only win in the last five competitive and friendly games was a pre-tournament friendly against Venezuela. In the head-to-head on record from this data set, Türkiye actually beat the USA 2-1 in a June 2025 friendly, so Montella will know his side are capable of causing problems when they are at full intensity.
The USA’s results in this tournament represent a clear step forward for Pochettino’s project. A 4-1 win over Paraguay followed by a clean sheet against Australia shows both attacking depth and defensive organisation, two areas that USMNT squads have historically struggled to combine at a major tournament. Pochettino’s record over the last five matches shows one pre-tournament friendly loss to Germany (1-2), but three wins from the two most important matches tells the story of a side that raised their level when it mattered.
The stakes for Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino took the USA job carrying the weight of a narrative that followed him out of Paris, namely that he is a coach who builds beautifully but tends to fall short at the final hurdle. He never won a trophy at Tottenham despite reaching a Champions League final. His PSG tenure ended abruptly after domestic inconsistency. The USMNT role was painted by some as a step back, a tenure on home soil at a co-hosted World Cup with limited pressure and maximum convenience. Winning the group with a game to spare, at SoFi Stadium in front of a crowd that will be heavily pro-USA, would do more than silence those critics. It would cement Pochettino as the man who turned a talented but erratic generation of American players into a genuine tournament outfit. For a coach who has spent years being described in terms of potential, a group stage clean sweep on the world’s biggest stage would land differently.
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Our Prediction
Pochettino has the personnel and the tactical clarity to control this match, and Türkiye’s attacking output so far in the tournament gives little reason to fear them as an attacking force. The USA are likely to press high and look for early goals through Pulisic and McKennie. A 2-0 home win would be consistent with the pattern Pochettino has established, and would mark a significant milestone in his tenure as USMNT head coach.