The US Men’s National Team has done something it has never done in the modern World Cup era: win its first two group stage matches and lock up the top spot in its group before the final matchday even kicks off.

Under head coach Mauricio Pochettino, the USMNT topped Group D at the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a 4-1 demolition of Paraguay and a 2-0 victory over Australia. The team’s +5 goal differential is the best the program has ever posted through two World Cup games. For a squad that crashed out of the 2024 Copa América in embarrassing fashion, this is a different universe.

How Pochettino rebuilt the team’s identity

Pochettino was appointed head coach on September 10, 2024, earning roughly $6 million per year. The Argentine, who previously managed Tottenham Hotspur to a Champions League final and had stints at Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, was tasked with a straightforward but daunting job: make the US competitive on home soil at a World Cup the country is co-hosting alongside Canada and Mexico.

His approach has centered on culture, mentality, and unity. The 4-1 win over Paraguay on June 12 was the USMNT’s highest-scoring World Cup match in the modern era. Against Australia on June 19, the performance was more controlled but equally convincing. A 2-0 result sealed Group D with one match still remaining against Türkiye. Pochettino has emphasized squad rotation and tactical flexibility, and that final group match gives him a chance to rest key players while keeping fringe contributors sharp.

A 24-year wait for a quarterfinal

The last time the USMNT reached a World Cup quarterfinal was 2002, when a team led by Landon Donovan, Brian McBride, and Claudio Reyna made a surprising run in South Korea and Japan. That squad beat Portugal and Mexico before falling to Germany. In the 24 years since, the US has ranged from mediocre to outright absent, failing to even qualify for the 2018 tournament in Russia.

The 2024 Copa América was supposed to be a proving ground for the current generation. Instead, it became a cautionary tale. The team’s early exit under former coach Gregg Berhalter accelerated the coaching change and set the stage for Pochettino’s hiring.

The energy from home crowds has been a factor Pochettino has openly acknowledged. Playing a World Cup on your own soil is an advantage that’s hard to quantify but impossible to ignore.

What this means for the knockout rounds

Topping the group is about more than bragging rights. In the expanded 48-team World Cup format, finishing first gives the USMNT a theoretically easier path through the knockout rounds.

The remaining group match against Türkiye offers Pochettino a luxury most coaches at major tournaments dream about: a game with nothing on the line except experimentation. He can test different formations, give minutes to players who haven’t featured prominently, and manage the fitness of his starters heading into the rounds that actually matter.

Pochettino has spoken about building long-term confidence within the program, and there’s no better foundation for that than a successful home World Cup.