USMNT praised for keeping “same intensity” over four-match window

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Mauricio Pochettino was pleased with the U.S. Men’s National Team’s efforts in Tuesday’s 1-0 friendly win over Canada, but already wants his squad looking forward to what’s to come.Pochettino watched as Justin Ellis’ second-career international goal propelled the USMNT to a fourth-straight victory in the September-October window. His squad also registered a second clean sheet in a row after Saturday’s 3-0 triumph over fellow CONCACAF rivals Mexico at Glendale, Arizona. Canada pushed the Americans to the brink but Brian Schwake registered a three-save shutout, with the help of his USMNT teammates. Both Schwake and Ellis were two of the 13 players to earn their senior debuts over the window, which helped prepare the next group of players for the 2030 cycle. Pochettino now hopes that all of his players can carry their international performances over to their club schedules, knowing that could play a key role leading into the November camp. “It’s not, ‘I am an international now. My teammate needs to run for me,'” Pochettino said postmatch in a press conference. “No, you need to run for you and for your teammate. Yes, that is a mentality that we are trying to apply and I think they are so smart and intelligent. They have talent for sure. They would use that experience to be much better players, with more experience.“The future with this talented player, young talented player plus the senior player that we have, I think we have a very good mix and I hope that we can guide this group of players to reach our best level and compete in our best way,” he added.Fatigue surely set in for the USMNT in Tuesday’s match, especially with the squad playing four fixtures over the two-week break rather than the traditional two matches in previous years. However, the USMNT did not drop their work rate or determination at Allianz Field, holding Canada at bay and continuing their winning streak this fall. Bigger tests are on the horizon for the USMNT, starting with November’s CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal series with Haiti, but Pochettino believes their performances over the last two weeks are a great starting point for the rest of the year. “They deserve the credit,” Pochettino said about his players following the lengthy camp. “Not talking only about the result, it’s talking about the way we competed, and the way we made that journey together.“I think it was amazing and that is a starting point to keep going with the basis and the principle that we were talking about, to develop and evolve in this way,” he added. “So happy, so grateful to the players and to the whole staff. We played four games in two weeks and to play always with the same intensity, with the same commitment, with the same passion. That is a thing that we keep.”Haiti awaits the USMNT in November, with both matches expected to be played on American soil due to recent U.S. travel bans to the Caribbean country. Ranked No. 88 in the world, Haiti won three of its four Nations League group stage matches this window and will have a point to prove against a USMNT side that they haven’t beaten since 1973. Pochettino isn’t too concerned with his team dropping their intensity levels in November, especially if they play how they did over the past two weeks. “I think if we build that idea of every time that we are involved with a national team, we compete in this way, I think it’s going to be easy to carry over the level of intensity into November,” Pochettino said.