Mauricio Pochettino had numbers on his mind on Tuesday night. It wasn’t just the two unanswered goals his United States team conceded to Portugal, the nine weeks he has to name his World Cup roster, or the 35 (or 40) players still in with a chance of making the cut at that time.
Pochettino also had the figure 100 running through his thoughts, namely the players he considers to be among the best 100 in the world. And, according to him, there aren’t any Americans among them.
“We are USA,” Pochettino told reporters at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, after back-to-back losses following Saturday’s 5-2 setback against Belgium. “We are competing against Belgium, Portugal. I think for sure Belgium and Portugal have in the top 100 players, a few or some, players playing in that top 100. I think we don’t have. That is why it’s good to play against these types of teams.”
It was a long way from being the most incendiary thing he could have said, but, coming out of the final window before the tournament squad is announced on May 26, it was striking.
Soccer is global enough that few countries on the planet can lay claim to having several of the 100 best, or even more than one.
It would not be unreasonable, however, to suggest that Christian Pulisic might be disappointed with such a take from his national team coach. Such lists are, by their very nature, subjective and can use widely varying criteria to make a determination. But he has been on lists of that type before.
At the end of 2024, for instance, Pulisic was among the final 22 players in the world shortlisted for The Best FIFA men’s midfielder award.
And in The Athletic’s “Best 100 Players” who will be at the World Cup, compiled by Nick Miller and Tim Spiers last December, Pulisic was the only American, and came in at No. 39. The rubric used included factors such as current form, historical performance, importance to their nation, transfer value, and rating on the highly-researched FC26 video game.
Otherwise, Weston McKennie, based on his Juventus form of late, might also consider himself worthy of being in the mix. Given how national team coaches generally take the approach of cheerleading for their best players, Pochettino’s remarks were notable, at the very least, though they should be kept in context.
The coach may be right, of course. At various times over the history of the USMNT, it is likely that only a handful of players would ever have been at a lofty enough point at any stage of their career to hold claims on a subjective top 100 spot. As for Pulisic, he made a stirring start to the current Serie A season after missing last summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup but has tailed off of late. He has not scored for AC Milan during this calendar year, and hasn’t scored for the U.S. since 2024.
The context of what Pochettino said was important, though. The intent was clearly not to downplay his players’ ability, but to reinforce that the U.S. is not, at this time, at the same level as the leading European powers, either as a collective unit or in terms of individual ability. The point he was making was that for this reason alone, scheduling matches and competing against such opponents is vital to future development and progress.
“(It) is massive for us, it is about (learning),” Pochettino added. “We should play more games. Even though this is painful it is the only way to improve, it is the only way to learn, it is the only way to see how the top players and teams compete.”
If the top 100 analogy came off as strangely specific, it should be noted that as a group, U.S. Soccer does have a tendency to think in such statistical terms.
Last year, the federation hired the Twenty First Group, a sports intelligence consultancy. Among the firm’s research was analysis about how many players rated in the top 1,000 in the world a national team normally needs to reach the quarterfinals of a World Cup, or better.
Mauricio Pochettino wrote the foreword for our Soccer 100 book. Through all-new, vivid portraits of each athlete, The Soccer 100 is a tribute to the greatest players to have ever graced the most popular sport on the planet. You can purchase the book here or by clicking the link below.
The Soccer 100From Pelé to Messi, Cruyff to Mbappé, this is our definitive ranking of the greatest players to ever grace the pitch.
From Pelé to Messi, Cruyff to Mbappé, this is our definitive ranking of the greatest players to ever grace the pitch.
