Pochettino: U.S. vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina like World Cup 'final' - ESPN

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — U.S. men's national team coach Mauricio Pochettino said Wednesday's round-of-32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina will be like «the final of the World Cup,» and that if the U.S. is to progress to the round of 16, «we need to perform at our best.»

The USMNT looked sharp in its first two group stage matches against Paraguay and Australia, before falling to Turkiye while playing a heavily rotated lineup.

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But with the World Cup now entering the knockout stages — and with presumed heavyweights like Germany and the Netherlands already eliminated — the USMNT knows there is no margin for error, especially against a disciplined Bosnia side.

«We don't have another opportunity if we fail,» Pochettino said at Tuesday's pre-match news conference. «It's all in, knowing that that game is the final of the World Cup. If we were capable to go through, the next one is going to be another final of the World Cup. I think [that] needs to be our mindset and our mentality.»

Yet Pochettino added that he feels the mentality of his team «is perfect» heading into the match, and has been building since the World Cup roster was announced on May 26. The momentum the team has generated is the culmination of what he hoped for when he took the USMNT job in September 2024.

"[Now], we start to see what we wanted and [our] expectation from them and I think it's a massive, massive improvement," he said.

Pochettino lauded Bosnia, which finished third in Group B behind Switzerland and Canada, for its physicality, aggression and individual quality, as