Coach proud of U.S. gains: ‘Now is not a coincidence’

Pochettino’s approach to building roster and training it is paying off in World Cup wins.

- By KEVIN BAXTER

A bowl of lemons sits on a table in the conference room Mauricio Pochettino has turned into an office at the beachfront resort in south Orange County.

A bowl of lemons sits on a table in the conference room Mauricio Pochettino has turned into an office at the beachfront resort in south Orange County. The citrus fruit, the coach believes, has the spiritual ability to absorb negative energy. On the corner of another table, the flame from a candle flickers.

“I like candles,” says Pochettino, who believes they release therapeutic fragrances and create a calming environment.

But it is the massive, blood-red mural covering the entire south side of the room that truly reveals what Pochettino believes. In the center of the wall, just behind the coach’s desk, white block letters spell out “Why Not” above a script “U.S.,” which, despite the periods, is meant to be read as “us.”

Pochettino has turned the question in a mantra for a World Cup team that has answered it with two wins in as many games and has a chance to win a third match in the tournament for the first time when it meets Turkey at SoFi Stadium on Thursday.

The idea came to him during a team meeting last November when he sensed his players had doubts about their upcoming World Cup run. So Pochettino turned those doubts into a question. If South Korea could come from nowhere and make the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, and if Morocco could do the same four years ago in Qatar, why not the U.S.? Why not us? "Hey, come on, guys, are you listening to me?"

Pochettino said he asked the group. "We need to believe." Before he could convince his players, however, he had to convince himself. And that might have been the hardest part.

The 54-year-old Pochettino is a benevolent Svengali with a whistle; Ted Lasso with an Argentine accent.