How does a team follow up its best performance in the World Cup in nearly a century? Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.For the U.S., preparing for its second group-stage game Friday against Australia has meant remembering when times were not so good.It was only seven months ago — the last time the U.S.
played Australia.That match last fall was technically a non-counting friendly, but that didn’t lower the intensity of what became a physical contest as Australia challenged the U.S.from the start.
Mauricio Pochettino, who was a year into his tenure as the U.S.national team coach, entered the locker room at halftime of a 1-1 tie and began a “rant,” U.S.
midfielder Sebastian Berhalter recalled.“They come and they fight,” Pochettino told the team in a video it released later.“When are we going to fix that?”U.S.
coach Mauricio Pochettino celebrates with his players during the U.S.match against Paraguay on June 12.Jamie Squire / Getty ImagesThe U.S.
would beat Australia 2-1, and ahead of a rematch Friday, U.S.players were asked whether there was a lesson to be taken from Pochettino’s words during their last matchup against the Socceroos.
“I think one is that we’re American, we don’t take s---,” Berhalter said.“I think that’s something that [Pochettino] really put in, and you know, he’s, even though he’s Argentinian, he has that mindset of like, ‘Look, this is what we do, and this is who we are, and this is what America is about.’”That mindset, Berhalter added, is something Pochettino “really drills into us.”That is still the case, even though seven months later the U.S.
is in a far different place after a 4-1 tournament-opening victory over Paraguay that tied for the largest World Cup margin of victory in U.S.history.
Folarin Balogun scored two goals, becoming the first U.S.player to score multiple times in a game since 1930.
The win and Australia’s o...