Why not us? Inside Mauricio Pochettino's USMNT World Cup dream

Mauricio Pochettino's office sits on the lower floors of the USMNT's World Cup hotel, its balcony offering a view of the Pacific Ocean and surfers waiting for the perfect wave. Behind his desk is a wall of handwritten quotes and mantras, and above them six giant letters that explain everything: Why not?

He says those words daily to himself and his players and that belief is what brought him to the job. The phrase first came out in a routine team meeting in November, unplanned and driven by intuition: "Come on guys! You are listening to me, and we need to believe.

Why not us?" The team has carried that question into the tournament with a 4-1 win over Paraguay and a 2-0 victory over Australia, and observers are now asking why this side can't go all the way at a home World Cup. Pochettino frames his work as building a legacy of connection between the national team and the fans rather than simply lifting a trophy.

United States

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