MAKE AMERICA GREAT AT LAST

MAURICIO POCHETTINO is already feeling the pressure from the most powerful man on the planet.

- By John Cross

United States president Donald Trump met FIFA president Gianni Infantino in the Oval Office this month and immediately asked: "Can America win the World Cup?"

It is a bit different from Pochettino's days at Tottenham with chairman Daniel Levy applying the pressure or Todd Boehly wanting results at Chelsea.

Pochettino laughed as he said: "I was listening to a conversation between our president Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino. The president asked, 'Can we win the World Cup?' And Gianni said, 'Yes'.

"But I was disappointed with this answer. He should say, 'You need to ask your great coach, Pochettino! Because for sure, he can give a better opinion'. By the way, I think the pressure is going to be there, because we are a host. Then it's a country where the mentality is about winning. You know in sport, in everything that Americans are involved in, they want to win.

"That is the culture. It's cultural. Of course, it's going to be a pressure. But a welcome one. That means that we are going to feel the adrenaline that we need to feel."