Pochettino admits U.S. World Cup roster selection will be ‘painful’ following Portugal loss

ATLANTA — Mauricio Pochettino admitted he faces a series of “painful” decisions in selecting his final United States World Cup squad after Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to Portugal left a number of questions unanswered.

Pochettino’s side now has no more friendlies remaining before the planned May 26th squad announcement in New York, and the coach insisted several places are still up for grabs.

“They know that it’s going to be a competition,” Pochettino said, after goals from Francisco Trincão and João Félix sealed a second straight defeat. “They know we are going to see every single week, every single game and we are going to assess one year and a half or more and make the decision who (is) going to make the roster.”

Asked how many players remained in contention, Pochettino made it clear there is still some ways to go before he settles on who he wants to suit up for the nation’s first home World Cup since 1994.

“Today, yes, maybe a few more (than 35),” when asked how many remain in with a chance. “It is going to be painful because that process … is going to be difficult to pick only 26 from 35, 40.

“Who will be there is going to be happy, who is not on the roster is going to be sad.”

Pochettino said he took positives out of this March window despite Tuesday’s result following a 5-2 defeat to Belgium on Saturday, saying that he felt the team showed well against two top opponents.

“We were competing well, but still we need to learn a lot,” Pochettino said.

“We are competing against Belgium, Portugal,” he added, pointing out that both European teams are ranked in the top 10 by FIFA. “I think for sure Belgium and Portugal have in the top 100 players, a few or some playing in that top 100. I think we don’t have. That is why it’s good to play against these types of teams.”

Pochettino said he was happy overall with the camp. With just a few months ahead of picking his World Cup roster, Pochettino said he felt he had a better idea of the players and what they needed to do to be ready.

“There are too many things we need to assess and see in the next few weeks,” Pochettino said. “I am more positive now than before, because seeing the team compete, we are not far away. It is only details we need to improve. When we match the opponent in the areas we need to match, we are going to have the possibility to beat them.”

It was a continued message throughout the press conference from the U.S. coach, who was focused more on what he felt the team learned and the way it showed a better understanding of what is needed to compete against top teams than he was in the result of a “non-official” game.

Some of the mistakes that were being made in the game — he pointed to Antonee Robinson’s high position on Portugal’s first goal as an example — are small details that he believes will be honed and tweaked in a longer World Cup camp. They are “fixable” issues. The bigger learnings came from the level of the opponents.

“We are going to have three, four weeks to prepare for the World Cup and going to be pushing these types of situations (to learn),” Pochettino said. “After four months (away from the national team), you don’t have much time (together), you tell players, but players have to feel (it) on the pitch. These types of mistakes are not crazy, but in these types of games, players like (Portugal’s stars), when you give them a centimeter, it’s possible for them to score.”

Pochettino said he was pleased with Christian Pulisic’s performance as the starting striker for the U.S. on Portugal, even though he wasn’t able to break his scoring drought.

“I think he was very active and he did a good job,” Pochettino said. “He was involved in (a lot) of actions. It was a shame he didn’t score with the opportunities he had, but it’s normal he was a little frustrated, but I think we were a little bit frustrated the whole game.”