INGLEWOOD, Calif. — In the hours before Friday’s U.S. World Cup opener, at the team hotel, on the police-escorted bus and inside SoFi Stadium’s locker room, Mauricio Pochettino will dispense final instructions to a team he has molded for 19 months.
As the minutes count down to kickoff against Paraguay, Pochettino will step into a moment worthy of a Hollywood film and have an opportunity to rally his players with a speech that invokes courage and patriotism while also touching their hearts.
He could mirror the inspirational speech punctuating one of his favorite movies, “Miracle,” in which Kurt Russell, portraying coach Herb Brooks, rallied the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team.
In those final moments, though, Pochettino says he will not say much.
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 11: Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino of the United States during practice on June 11, 2026 in Irvine, California. (Photo by John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images)
(John Dorton/USSF via Getty Images)