Pochettino: It is the club that loaned the players to the national team, and we must protect them as much as possible

Reposted from Hupu on November 18th, the head coach of the US national team, Pochettino, accepted an exclusive interview with the Argentine National Daily.

(The following is an excerpt from the interview)

Now as the coach of the US team, you will sooner or later face Argentina. How do you feel?

I want to play against Argentina! To be honest, playing against them is one of our goals. I want to face all the outstanding teams in the world, from Argentina to Spain, England, Italy, Portugal, Brazil...

If the US national team wants to be competitive, it has to play against strong teams. Since we took over 2 months ago, from now until the World Cup, I have been saying that we should rearrange the schedule, even if it is a friendly match, we should arrange strong teams.

I really want to face Argentina, but not for emotional reasons, nor because of my nationality, but to let this team feel the feeling of facing the world champion. This is the way to grow: learn by competing with the best. Of course, even in failure, I think it is also learning.

Scaloni has never coached a club, and this is also your first time coaching a national team. How do you view this kind of life?

It's difficult. I would also like to point out one thing: when your players are called up, you have to prioritize the rest and recovery of the players.

You have an idea for the training session, and in the end, you have to change everything because you have to be very, very careful about their fatigue from the trip, the minutes they played in the club last month...

We want to have a variety of training sessions, two training sessions a day, and keep them on the field for hours, but this greatly increases the risk of injury.

You have to learn to balance because you have to be responsible to the players, to the Football Association that trusts you and wants you to get results, and to the clubs where the players come from, because it is the clubs that pay the players and it is they who loan the players to the national team.

You have to repay them well so that they can continue to stand out and you can call them up again. In short, it's a balance that we are adapting to now, we are working hard to achieve it, and we will definitely achieve it over time.

You said that when you became the coach of the US team, you decided to leave your comfort zone. What risks does this bring?

Choosing to coach the national team tests you in many ways. Taking this step as a coaching staff, I'm not saying that we need it, but we are very curious to experience it.

What could be better than being in a team like the USA? The 2026 World Cup is just around the corner. Going out of your comfort zone a little bit and trying something unknown has always been, and is, a huge challenge. In addition, we will absorb additional knowledge that will prepare us for a new life wherever we go tomorrow.

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