{"id":762014,"date":"2026-06-26T17:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762014\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:40:12","slug":"pochettino-chides-press-for-questions-after-3-2-loss-to-turkey-we-won-the-group-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/762014\/","title":{"rendered":"Pochettino chides press for questions after 3-2 loss to Turkey: \u2018We won the group\u2019 | USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mauricio Pochettino criticized questions over his team\u2019s performance in a 3-2 loss to Turkey<\/a> on Thursday, telling journalists he expected to be congratulated for leading the US to a first-place finish in the group and found their questions about the dead-rubber loss \u201cweird\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US had secured top spot in Group D on the back of two historic performances \u2013 a 4-1 opening win against Paraguay<\/a> in which the team scored more goals in a World Cup match than ever before, and a 2-0 victory over Australia<\/a> that secured a first six-point opening to a World Cup.<\/p>\n

Much of the discussion going into the match against Turkey centered on whether the US would be able to maintain the considerable momentum gained through those results and performances. The loss, off a Turkey goal scored with the final kick, raised questions about whether that momentum can continue against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last 32 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Momentum] is a topic that I don\u2019t understand,\u201d Pochettino said when asked about how the loss would affect his team\u2019s prospects. \u201cWhat is momentum? To play with the same team that we played against Australia? And to take the risk to receive a yellow card and not to play the next game? Did Germany lose the momentum too [in their 2-1 loss to Ecuador<\/a>]? I don\u2019t know. [There are] too many topics in soccer that I don\u2019t understand. The objective was to finish first, and we are first, and now is the next stage, and it\u2019s going to be a final, and we are ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pochettino went on: \u201cI think it\u2019s all positive, and I am so positive, and I am happy. Maybe I am not showing because your questions are a little bit weird, but I am so happy, and the players are happy, because I think we perform, we compete, and we are first \u2026 Maybe I am confused, but the mood, the vibes [in here] is like we go home tonight and Turkey stays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by the Guardian about which ways he felt his team could improve collectively after the loss, Pochettino began by pointing out that the team had yet to be congratulated for topping the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, no one congratulated us for finishing first in a very difficult group. I congratulate the players, the staff and USA and the fans to finish first in a very difficult group. My answer is, you always learn when you are in a World Cup<\/a>. There were plenty of positive things today. Plenty of players that made a debut, or made their first start. I think we are much better team now than before. I think it\u2019s not easy to do after winning two games, preparing for the next stage and playing a team that is not playing for nothing. It was difficult for the boys to go there and try to perform and that\u2019s why I\u2019m so happy about the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

After further questions about what the squad depth showed in a competitive performance against Turkey, Pochettino again returned to his incredulous feeling.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m sorry guys, it cannot be possible that Turkey finishes celebrating the three points, Australia is celebrating the qualification, Paraguay celebrating the qualification, and [I] come here, and for you not to say congratulations, that we won the group,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is a little bit sad. I need to [remind] you and everyone that we won the group. You guys, we won.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mauricio Pochettino criticized questions over his team\u2019s performance in a 3-2 loss to Turkey on Thursday, telling journalists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-762014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}