Doug McIntyre

Football journalist

It speaks to the global respect that Mauricio Pochettino has earned over the course of his 15-year career as a head coach, when his first match in charge of the United States men’s national team – a debut that Pochettino won as the Americans took over Panama last weekend defeated – was: for his presence alone on the sidelines, the must-see match of this month’s two-friendlies list.

Tuesday’s trip to Mexico remains much more fascinating from a purely football perspective. Normally, this would be by far the must-watch, as El Tri is the USMNT’s oldest and most hated rival.

“Of course it will be special,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference on Monday evening. “Specially for our fans and especially for Mexican fans.”

The tilt at 50,000 seats Akron Stadium in Guadalajara marks the 78th meeting between these North American neighbors, in a series that began nearly a century ago.

El Tri has won 36 of those meetings. But the US has posted a record of 21W-13L-13T against Mexico over the past three decades, including its only meeting at a World Cup: the famous 2-0 victory in the round of 16 of the 2002 tournament in Mexico. Korea/Japan.

Now the Americans will start a historic seven-game unbeaten streak against Mexico on Tuesday. In March, the US defeated its main foe in front of a sea of ​​green-clad El Tri supporters in Arlington, Texas, to win its third straight Concacaf Nations League crown.

Beating Mexico south of the Rio Grande, however, is an entirely different matter. Only one USMNT side has ever managed to triumph in Mexico in an all-time 28 tries: Jurgen Klinsmann in a 2012 exhibition at the iconic Azteca Stadium, where Mexican-American defender Michael Orozco scored the storybook winner.

Just like the current American team, Mexico also has a new manager in Javier Aguirre. The 65-year-old has led his country twice before – including in 2002 – and has history with Pochettino; Aguirre succeeded him at Spanish club Espanyol in 2012 when Pochettino left for Southampton of the English Premier League. Given the long run without wins and the change in leadership, there is little doubt that El Tri – and their fans – will be desperate to secure their first victory over the visitors this decade.

“I think the atmosphere will be great,” Pochettino said. “We need this kind of game. To feel adversity. To feel that we are going to compete not only with the team in front of us, but also with the atmosphere we have to control.”

They will also have to manage adversity before the opening whistle blows.

American stars Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie were among five players sent back to their clubs on Sunday due to minor injuries or reasons to manage the load, a list that also included goalkeeper Zack Steffen, full-back Marlon Fossey and striker Ricardo Pepi, scorer of the second his team’s goal. against Panama.

“It’s a bit sad because these guys who were here wanted to help and play for the team,” Pochettino said. “But at the same time, if one door is closed, another can be opened. And there will certainly be the opportunity to play for other players. For us it is another game to learn.”

It is also the toughest test Pochettino’s US will face until next year, no disrespect to the foe the Americans will ultimately draw for next month’s Nations League quarter-finals. Not that the Argentinian spends too much time thinking about his team’s opponents.

“It’s a challenge to meet Mexico. But the most important thing, as I told the players against Panama, is to challenge ourselves,” Pochettino said. “It improves the way we want to play, the way we need to evolve as a team in our mentality, in our attitude, in our arrogance, in the way we need to compete.”

While a second-ever victory in Mexico is the clear goal for Tuesday, the big picture – namely a successful 2026 World Cup on home soil – has informed every decision made by Pochettino and his staff during his first spell at the helm of the USMNT. They believe improvement must come from within, one match at a time, regardless of who is on the other side of the field or where the match is being held.

“For us, we are our worst enemy,” Pochettino said. “We have to challenge ourselves to be better and better and better.”

Doug McIntyre is a football reporter for FOX Sports. A former staff writer at ESPN and Yahoo Sports, he has covered the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @By DougMcIntyre.

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