The USMNT's secret penalty shootout plan

Breaking new ground

There is something quietly fascinating about a nation hosting a World Cup and simultaneously preparing for a situation it has never encountered at one. The USMNT have reached knockout football before — they went deep in 2002, they've had their moments — but the spot-kick lottery has always been someone else's problem. Pochettino, according to The Guardian and corroborated by ESPN FC's coverage of the USMNT's 2026 preparations, is making sure that changes.

The programme, as described, blends the psychological with the technical. Confidence-building work, composure training under pressure, and the involvement of specialist consultants brought in specifically to help players handle the moment. It is the kind of detail that separates a side that has thought seriously about winning from one that is just hoping to get there.

Why it matters now

The 2026 tournament is being played across the United States, Canada and Mexico — and the host nation's knockout run is already the story the tournament wants to tell. Every round the USMNT advance, the noise gets louder. Pochettino knows what a shootout does to a squad that hasn't rehearsed it properly — he managed Tottenham through a Champions League run that ended in a semi-final shootout exit against Manchester City in 2019, and has spoken publicly about the psychological weight of those moments.

The full detail of the consultants' methods and which specific players are central to the programme hasn't been confirmed beyond The Guardian and ESPN FC's reporting — so there are still gaps in the picture. But the headline fact is clear enough: this is a coaching staff that has identified a specific vulnerability, a specific piece of uncharted territory, and gone looking for expert help.

The bigger picture

For a programme that has spent years trying to close the gap on the world's elite, this is exactly the kind of marginal-gains thinking that signals intent. Penalties are not just about technique — they are about who you are at 1-1 in the 118th minute with 80,000 people watching and a nation holding its breath. Pochettino is trying to answer that question before the question gets asked.

The US have never been here before. That is either a disadvantage or a blank page. Pochettino, it seems, has decided it's the latter.

He didn't leave it to chance. That's probably the most Pochettino thing about all of it.