ST. LOUIS (AP) — Mauricio Pochettino got a feel for what the U.S. men’s national team still faces at times during home games: a crowd rooting for the opposition.
“It was like to play in Guatemala,” the coach said after his team got two early goals from Diego Luna and hung on for a 2-1 win Wednesday night that advanced the Americans to the CONCACAF Gold Cup final. “That was good for our players because it was an atmosphere that we didn’t expect.”
The U.S. will play Mexico on Sunday in Houston, the Americans’ last competitive match before next year’s World Cup.
A sellout crowd of 22,423 at Energizer Park energized Los Chapines, who outshot the U.S. 20-12 and got an 80th-minute goal from Olger Escobar.
“That is football,” Pochettino said. “When we say the connection in between the fans and the team, that is the connection that we’d like to see in the World Cup. That connection that makes you fly, because (of) the energy that translates.”
U.S. players are used to some home matches where the support is overwhelmingly for the opponent.
“We’re a country full of immigrants, so it was kind of expected for tonight,” defender Chris Richards said. “It was good for some of the younger guys to kind of experience that tonight, but for us experienced guys, we went through World Cup qualifiers with the exact same stuff, so I think that was a good lesson that the team needed to learn.”
An Argentine who played for his nation 20 times, Pochettino comes from a culture where soccer dominates life.
“I saw player of the Guatemala crying,” he said. “That is the way that we need to feel, and our fans need to feel the same. It’s not to come here and to enjoy f the spectacle and if you lose, nothing happens. Yes, it happens a lot. Things happen because you play for your pride, you play for many, many things that I think I cannot tell you tonight. But I think it’s good for our players …. I came from Argentina and in Argentina it’s not the same win or lose. The consequences are massive.”
“The rest of the opponents and the different countries,” he added, “you play for survival, you play for food, you play for pride, you play for many things. It’s not to go and enjoy and go home and laugh and that’s it.”
Luna has showed the hunger Pochettino wants. The 21-year-old impressed the coach when he continued playing with a broken nose during a January friendly against Costa Rica in which the Americans used a B team after training sessions with mostly Major League Soccer players that some fans nicknamed Camp Cupcake. He’s become a regular in the Gold Cup and has three goals in his last two games.
“Diego was the example from January, how he is desperate to play for this shirt, for the national team and that is why now he is in the level that he showed,” Pochettino said.
Striker Patrick Agyemang also has emerged from January camp to gain a starting berth at the Gold Cup, where many regulars are absent.
‘Sometimes you say it’s useless, people say it’s useless,” Pochettino said of the January camp. “It’s not useless. I think it’s important, important for the national team, important for the team and very important for the country.”
Luna scored in the fourth and 15th minutes, the first with his left foot and the second with his right.
“I loved it. It was awesome, man,” he said of the environment. “That’s what every game should be like and I think that the Guatemalans should be very proud of the fan base that they have and the energy they bring.”
Defender Tim Ream, who captained the U.S. in his hometown, said positive results will grow the fanbase.
“None of it’s going to happen unless we win, unless we continue to win,” he said. “For us, what’s the hallmark of a U.S. team? It’s fighting and togetherness. That’s what we’re finding and doing in this tournament. And it’s not always going to be perfect. It’s not going to always be pretty, but doing that fosters that connection with the fans, with the diehards, with the casuals, with everybody. And as long as we continue to do that, then that culture grows, the feelings grow, and the connections grow.”
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