Pochettino hails entire squad after World Cup opening win

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — United States Coach Mauricio Pochettino refused to single out any individual player for praise following the co-hosts’ dream World Cup opening win, insisting the 4-1 victory on Friday over Paraguay was a collective effort.

The US demolished Paraguay on an electric night in Los Angeles, with Folarin Balogun bagging a brace and Gio Reyna scoring a late stunner, plus an early own goal.

“It’s not only to talk about some names, it’s about the collective,” Pochettino said.

“It’s not only Balo or different players that performed. I think the team was amazing — not only the starting 11 but all the players around and on the bench.”

Pressed by a journalist at his post-game conference about the performance of US talisman Christian Pulisic, Pochettino refused to budge.

“You push me to talk about names, and it’s about the team, it’s a collective performance. Of course, he was amazing,” he said.

He then went on to name nearly every member of the US line-up, praising each as also “amazing.”

Pochettino was also effusive in his praise for the 70,000 crowd in Los Angeles.

Despite some media reports suggesting that the US public is not as invested in the tournament as other World Cup hosts — particularly with the ongoing NBA finals drawing eyeballs away from the football — the atmosphere was raucous in the Los Angeles Stadium.

“On behalf of the whole team, massive thank you to the fans because the energy that they relate to the team was amazing, and we can do amazing things with if the fans are in this way,” said Pochettino.

The US is now in a strong position to progress from Group D, which also contains next Friday’s opposition Australia, and Turkiye.

“We are so happy, but this is only the start,” said Pochettino.

“It’s still two games to play. We need to enjoy this start to the tournament but know that we need to keep going, and try to improve, and try to do better in the next game because all the games are very competitive.”