The USA head into their final World Cup Group D match already assured of top spot, yet Mauricio Pochettino admits the rebuild has proved harder than expected. The team have delivered strong results on the pitch, while internal challenges and the coach’s uncertain future continue to shape the wider story.

Co-hosts USA face already-eliminated Turkiye on matchday three, having won both opening games. Those victories give the Stars and Stripes a chance to record three consecutive World Cup wins for the first time, underlining a rapid upturn in tournament form since a poor Copa America campaign.

The USA have scored six times so far at this World Cup, already their third-best haul at a single edition. They previously hit seven goals in 1930 and again in 2002. Five of the current six goals arrived before half-time, showing how strongly USA World Cup performances start matches.

This improved output also appears in the broader data. Pochettino’s record since taking charge now stands at 12 games, with seven wins, four defeats and one draw. The Opta supercomputer ranks the USA as 10th favourites for the trophy, assigning them a 3.9% chance of lifting it.

Current projections suggest the USA are likely to meet Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32. According to the same model, they hold a 71.7% likelihood of reaching the last 16. Asked whether the team could go further, Pochettino answered with a brief, confident line: “Why not us?”

Key USA World Cup metrics so far are shown below in a simple overview.

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Reaching this point has not been straightforward. Pochettino was appointed in September 2024, after USA failed to escape their group at the Copa America under Gregg Berhalter. The Argentinian coach endured an uneven start yet has guided a clear improvement in results during this World Cup.

Pochettino on USA World Cup rebuild challenges

Pochettino has been frank about the scale of the job. “We were naive when we signed the contract. We underestimated the situation. What we found was worse than we expected,” said Pochettino. Those early months changed the staff’s expectations about the environment around the national side.

The coach explained that support from players and stakeholders was not as strong as anticipated. “We thought people would be desperate to help, that everyone would be involved, eager to play for the national team. It was the complete opposite. We received a huge dose of reality. We said, ‘What the hell…?'”

Contract questions also sit in the background of the USA World Cup effort. Pochettino, formerly in charge at Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham, is due to be out of contract after the tournament, having been linked with AC Milan before the club turned to Ruben Amorim instead.

Pochettino insists future talks will not distract from the current campaign. “If we want to stay, we have months to talk, or days or weeks, because there are four years until the next World Cup,” Pochettino said. “It is not the time to be distracted and all the energy should be focused on the tournament and on being with the players.”

Whatever happens next in the USA World Cup journey, the group stage has delivered clear progress. Results, attacking numbers and computer projections point to a team moving forward, even as Pochettino stresses that deep structural issues and long-term decisions still shape the national side’s future.