A new term was coined towards the end of Mauricio Pochettino’s news conference on Thursday – “Pochismo.” It was used to express how the U.S. men’s national team coach has his own way of making decisions and, for the purposes of meeting with the media, his own way of explaining them. 

“It’s a good thing that Pochismo is positive,” Pochettino said with a laugh. “It’s good that it’s used in a positive way.”

In the year since taking over as USMNT boss, Pochettino has had his own way of explaining his decisions. There have been times where he’s been willing to go in depth. At other times, he’s asked for trust. Those decisions, ultimately, rest with Pochettino and his staff, and them alone. Part of Pochismo, then, is understanding that fact and accepting the answer, even if disagreeing.

Pochettino’s most recent decisions were announced on Thursday. He had selected a 26-man squad for the upcoming friendlies against Ecuador and Australia. There were a number of talented players named to the squad. There were a few that weren’t. Those decisions, Pochettino reminded reporters, were his, and the asked-for explanations, in truth, didn’t matter. What matters now is getting the 26-player group together and going from there.

In general, Pochettino’s message was clear. He wants every player in the pool to look in the mirror and ask themselves two questions: what is expected of me and what am I going to do to meet those expectations?

“It’s difficult to explain, because I think we’d need to spend over an hour doing it,” Pochettino said, “but I think in the way that they grow, in the way that I see things, how I feel soccer, for me, it’s completely different. I think that is why players need to perform, need to think and need to try to convince us. The players need to think a little bit about what we expect from them. 

“That is a different question: what we expect… If players not in the squad call us and say, ‘What do you expect from us coach?’ that is a different question. I can speak for over an hour, two hours, and we can have videos and everything. But that’s different from ‘Why am I not here?’ That is a different question.”

GOAL looks at key takeaways from Pochettino’s roster release.