{"id":3273,"date":"2026-03-31T05:45:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3273"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:45:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:45:29","slug":"usa-must-rediscover-intensity-in-tuneup-v-portugal-thats-non-negotiable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/?p=3273","title":{"rendered":"USA Must Rediscover Intensity In Tuneup v. Portugal: &#039;That&#039;s Non-Negotiable&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            POPULAR SEARCHES\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"subnav-title ff-ffc bold fs-23 lh-25 uc pd-b-10\">\n            BROWSE BY\n          <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6><strong>MARIETTA, Ga. <\/strong>\u2014<strong> <\/strong>As he settled into his podium seat for Monday\u2019s packed pre-match press conference inside the sprawling and pristine training facility of MLS side Atlanta United, U.S. men\u2019s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino cut a businesslike figure.<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>The Argentine answered the first dozen or so questions matter-of-factly, displaying little sign of the charm that endeared him to fans of clubs across Europe \u2014 including the all-world squads like Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain \u2014 during the 15 years he spent managing on the continent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6><strong>&#8211; <\/strong><strong>Will Defender Chris Richards Play vs. Portugal?<\/strong><br \/><strong>&#8211; <\/strong><strong>World Cup Schedule, Matches<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Exactly 24 minutes into the back-and-forth with reporters, Pochettino\u2019s demeanor changed. Asked how the American squad can keep its intensity high for all 90 minutes, something it failed to do in Saturday\u2019s 5-2 capitulation against Belgium, in Tuesday&#8217;s World Cup preparation match versus No. 6-ranked Portugal, the 54-year-old instantly became animated. He gesticulated as he spoke. That trademark charisma was suddenly on full display.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>&#8220;If you watched the game [between] France and Colombia, <i>that<\/i> is intensity,&#8221; said Pochettino, referring to Sunday\u2019s exhibition between the 2018 World Cup champions (and 2022 runners-up) and <i>Los Cafeteros<\/i> in Landover, Maryland. <i>Les Bleus <\/i>won 3-1, yet the victory was anything but comfortable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>&#8220;You can win, or you can lose,&#8221; Pochettino said. &#8220;But do you think the coach of Colombia, [despite] losing the game, is going to complain about [the effort of] some players? They played like this was the final of the World Cup. And France, when they saw the intensity and the aggression of Colombia, said, \u2018If we aren\u2019t as intense, they\u2019ll kill us.\u2019 <i>That <\/i>is intensity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span>(Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> <!--&gt;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>In stark contrast, the U.S. all but folded up shop when a Belgian penalty put the home side down two goals on Saturday with more than 30 minutes of the contest still left to play. The response, goalkeeper Matt Turner and others said afterward, should\u2019ve been the opposite. As the saying goes: If you can\u2019t beat them, beat them up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Pochettino didn\u2019t go that far, of course. And although English is his third language after his native Spanish and the French he learned playing as a central defender for Ligue 1 sides PSG and Bordeaux in the early 2000s, he couldn\u2019t have expressed himself more clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>This isn\u2019t the first time intensity has been a problem for the Americans since Pochettino arrived on these shores 18 months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Exactly this time last year, a flat and toothless USA dropped home games to regional foes Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Pochettino was so upset that he and his staff \"destroy[ed] what we needed to destroy\" and began to rebuild the team in his own image by bringing in a gaggle of newcomers who have since become mainstays. By the end of last year, the lack of fight was no longer an issue: The U.S. literally brawled\u00a0toward the end of a November win over Paraguay before beating the brakes off two-time World Cup champ Uruguay \u2014 arguably the hardest team, pound for pound, on planet <i>f\u00fatbol<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>It\u2019s something Poch\u2019s lot must rediscover between this month's two games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>\"It's a conscious decision. It's just an overall effort,\" captain Tim Ream said when asked why the U.S. faded so badly against Belgium at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.\u00a0\"It's not that guys don't want to do it. I think sometimes it's like \u2019I\u2019ve just made an effort,\u2019 and now it's about making the second, the third, the fourth. And sometimes, that doesn't happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>\"That's something that\u2019s non-negotiable, really,\" Ream continued. \"It's something that we were doing really well in the fall last year. And it's something we have to get back to.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>Pochettino noted on Monday that unlike last autumn, his players have been inundated with pre-World Cup media responsibilities this week. That wasn\u2019t the case in November or in the two international windows that preceded it. Yet he also pointed out that it\u2019s not a switch that can simply be turned on when the World Cup kicks off in June. That\u2019s the big lesson from Saturday. It\u2019s the mandate for Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>(Photo by Andrew J. Clark\/ISI Photos\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/span> --><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>The 2026 World Cup co-hosts still might not win the match. Portugal has a legitimate chance of hoisting the most coveted trophy in sports next July 19. Even at home, the U.S. would require a miracle even to reach the final four. Failure to rediscover their pugilistic spirit could end in catastrophe. As Pochettino asked rhetorically of whoever his team comes up against next summer: &#8220;Do you think that they are not going to fight?&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>&#8220;There\u2019s still time to realize that we need to compete,&#8221; he reiterated on Monday. &#8220;The players need to believe in that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>We&#8217;ll find out on Tuesday how much.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-d515c0f6>The World Cup will run from June 11\u2013July 19, 2026. Spread across three countries, the tournament will culminate with the final on July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. <u>All 104 tournament matches<\/u> will air live across FOX (70) and FS1 (34) with every match streaming live and on-demand within both the FOX One and the FOX Sports apps.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY MARIETTA, Ga. \u2014 As he settled into his podium seat for Monday\u2019s packed pre-match press conference inside the sprawling and pristine training facility of MLS side Atlanta United, U.S. men\u2019s national team coach Mauricio Pochettino cut a businesslike figure. (Photo by Omar Vega\/Getty Images) The Argentine answered the first dozen or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}