For Mauricio Pochettino, there is a power in ignorance for USMNT players | USA

The thing to know about Mauricio Pochettino is that, in his opinion, there is knowledge not to know.

In a meditation on his unifying theory on the nature of knowledge that recalled the famous diatribe of the “unknown unknown” of Donald Rumsfeld, said on Thursday why he never tells players of the male national team of the potential United States why they were not called.

“In our philosophy, players don’t need to know,” Pocsettino said, embarking on a six -minute monologue. “If a player needs to know, it is because he doesn’t really feel sport in the way I feel it. Because you really know when you play why you play; and when you don’t play, you know as well as.

“The player wants you to justify; he wants to know the evidence,” he continued. “If you explain, you will make the player happy. The players, they must know. Players who were not called today, they must be desperate to work better [for] their clubs.

Pochettino spoke on the occasion of his call 26 players for friendly matches with the equator on October 10 in Austin, Texas and Australia, on October 14 at Commerce City, Colorado. That is to say that the 33 players who were previously called in the elders of Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain Manager in charge of the USMNT were not this time, and will not know why (with the exception of those injured and Tyler Adams, which will miss this window because of the next birth of his second child).

There are notable feedback: Weston McKennie, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Mark McKenzie, Miles Robinson, Aidan Morris, Tanner Tessmann and Haji Wright were all brought back for another look. James Sands will return to the American camp for the first time under Pochettino. Yunus Musah, Josh Sargent and Joe Scally, all left whole, who all played well for their clubs.

Some players will have been left aside; Some just got out of the image. Which is, no one knows only for a man and his staff. For everyone, it’s unknown. But the players, at least … maybe they should know.

In September, in the previous episode of the agonizing road from the team to the 2026 World Cup, the Americans turned to a joy-free and panicked defeat 2-0 against South Korea in New Jersey. But they followed this malperformance with a 2-0 animated victory over Japan in Columbus, when a 3-4-2-1 system has given many score chances and a certain momentum and optimism finally.

Fans and observers had hoped that this camp, with only two other complete international windows to follow in November and March before the United States was realized for the World Cup, would offer a more final overview of Pochettino thought for its first choice team.

But Pochettino continues to use his list selections to send messages, as he did since the loss of the League of Concacaf Nations in March – the last time several former regulars, such as McKennie, were seen in an American jersey.

“It is not because your name is a [thing] Or another, you will have a place for sure on the World Cup list, “said Pocsettino on Thursday.” This is an idea that we were fighting last year to try to repair. To change the culture. To change the idea of: “OK, because in the past, I played in one way or another, or because I did well four years ago, now I’m ready to come and use my place because it’s my place.” I think it has changed a lot.

“It’s an open system,” added Pocsettino. “They must convince us to come back. They must come here and play, follow the rules, behave as we want [them to] Behave and try not only to win the matches, but to think and build something important. »»

Pochettino was also pragmatic in his list choices, deliberately in which players to pick their club environment and when. He carefully managed the expected trips and minutes of players who recently undergone significant injuries, or high workloads, sometimes leaving players like Sergiño Dest and Antonee Robinson with their deference clubs towards their long -term aptitude during a year of the World Cup.

Robinson, who has only played 64 minutes of Premier League for Fulham since his return from an operation on the knee, has been at the camp this time, but will probably play almost 180 minutes. “It is important that he can be with us, his teammates,” said Pocsettino. “It’s not just a question of tactics; It is a question of giving advantages to our players. The challenge is to help him start to feel confidence again. ”

In the same vein, Pochettino allowed players who settled with new clubs remain there during the September window before calling them again. Standard Patrick Agyemang, midfielder Malik Tillman and goalkeeper Matt Turner all returned to camp after staying with their clubs last month as a result of transfers.

Pochettino suggested that he could call fewer football players from Major League in November – there were 11 in the camp in September and 10 this time – because their clubs will be either in the middle of the playoffs, or already on the way.

In a sense, he behaves like a club director – that he was all his career as a coach after all, until American work. Or at the very least, he operated in a way that club director could appreciate.

There are often tensions between clubs and international coaches on players who are not entirely fit. The manager of Barcelona, ​​Hansi Flick, was naturally upset when his teenage prodigy blade Yamal was called into Spain despite an injury, injected with an pain reliever and would have played against his wishes, to return to the club with the aggravated injury.

Here again, he also behaves as an international manager with the luxury of considering something beyond the short term. The United States, after all, automatically qualified for the World Cup. And in his efforts to build depth and consider the workload of players over an 18 -month period – of his appointment through the World Cup – Pochettino had the freedom and the relative absence of pressure, to worry more than simply win the next match.

Sometimes it’s paid. Pochettino let Christian Pulisic sit in summer (but not without controversy), and the player took a flamboyant start for the season of Serie A. He is now the top scorer in the league, helping Milan take place for the first time for five laps.

“I think we can say that he is now the most important player for the national team,” Pocsettino said Pulisic on Thursday.

The correlation may not be causation here, but there is a good chance that free time has helped it refresh it and may well pay dividends for the United States next summer. This is a calculation that Pochettino has made, that it is better to manage its players that to assemble the team has completed at any time, whatever the problems that can occur downstream.

“We are preparing the World Cup,” said Pocsettino. “We are not only preparing these two games.”

• Leander Schaerlaeckens’ book on the United States Men’s Men’s National Football Team, The Long Game, was released in the spring of 2026. You can pre-order it here. He teaches at Marist University.