Mauricio Pochettino Makes Strong Statement Ahead Of FIFA World Cup: 'For The People...'

United States men’s football team coach Mauricio Pochettino has said that for the side, even a semifinal finish at the upcoming FIFA World Cup wouldn’t be counted as a successful outing, adding that the team has its sights set on winning the coveted tournament.

Pochettino acknowledged that fans might expect the team to reach at least the quarter-finals, but requested that they set their sights even higher and dream bigger.

Speaking to beIN SPORTS Australia, Pochettino said that a quarter-final appearance alone wouldn’t satisfy either the footballers or the coaching staff. He added that even reaching the semi-finals would fall short of what the United States would consider a successful campaign.

“For sure, for the fans (quarter-final would be great),

but for the people, yes, for the people around us, no. To arrive and go to the semifinal is going to be very successful, but still not enough, I think in our mind people that are involved with the national team, the US men national team, we want to win the World Cup,” Pochettino said.

Pochettino questioned why the United States team can’t go all the way this summer. He believes it shouldn’t be tough given the team’s talent, adding that the team has also put in the hard work needed to succeed.

“Why not? That is what I always said to them: why not? Why not? If we don’t believe and we don’t really work really hard to try to achieve that, that isn’t going to happen because no one is going to present that to us from nowhere,” Pochettino said.

“It is important to really believe and work hard, you know, to do everything, you know, to be sure that we can be close to winning. Win the World Cup is the objective,” Pochettino added.

USA begin their campaign against Paraguay at the Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood on Saturday, June 13. The match is scheduled for 6:30 am IST. They are coming off a 1-2 defeat to Germany in a friendly.