United States coach Mauricio Pochettino set some expectations ahead of the team's return to action at this summer's Concacaf Gold Cup after a disastrous fourth-place finish at the Nations League in March.
One message: Leave the golf clubs at home.
«If you arrive to the camp and you want to spend nice time, play golf, go for a dinner, visit my family, visit my friend, that is the culture that we want to create?» Pochettino asked out loud Thursday during a Zoom news conference after announcing his 27-man roster. «No, no, no, no, no. What we want do is to go to the national team, arrive and be focused and spend all my focus and energy in the national team.
»If we want be good in one year time, we need to think that today is the most important day."
The Americans will be in camp ahead of a busy summer, which includes a pair of friendlies against European heavyweights Turkey and Switzerland in early June and then the Gold Cup, which goes from June 15 to July 7.
Christian Pulisic is among a slew of regular starters who won't be there. The U.S. captain is getting some needed rest after a busy season with AC Milan. Timothy Weah, Weston McKennie and Giovanni Reyna aren't in the squad either, as all three will be playing with their teams at the Club World Cup, which runs concurrently with the Gold Cup.
Sixteen of the players picked are from MLS, the most in a FIFA window since the U.S. sent a B team to the 2023 Gold Cup, and Pochettino hopes the absence of some of the team's star players will give others the chance convince worried fans a turnaround is ahead.
«It's our responsibility to send some signal to them,» Pochettino added. «I think our fans need to see our team fighting and playing and performing and playing well, yes, but
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