​  INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The U.S. men’s national team have yet to kick a ball at the World Cup, but in some ways, head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s job is already done.”I already spoke. I already talked – too much. Too much,” he said on Thursday in a comment that rightfully elicited laughter from a room of journalists. It was not a comment that was fully made in jest, though.”I said, ‘Don’t expect an unbelievable speech Friday,'” he said about a note he had for his players ahead of their World Cup opener against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium. “I think now is the moment where they need to build their way to prepare in an emotional and better way and I think everyone knows how to be ready. I think now they don’t need an external motivation or inspirational speech.”This, he argued, was the culmination of nearly two years of work to reset a national team that was full of promise but had lost their way. Pochettino inherited the USMNT’s quote-unquote golden generation after a shocking group stage exit at the Copa America, as great a World Cup tune-up as they would get – and a litmus test they abjectly failed. Pochettino is a skilled tactician and when his U.S. team finally takes to the pitch on Friday, that will be clear to see. His diagnosis for the USMNT he inherited, though, was not ultimately about positional play. He believed the World Cup co-hosts were in desperate need of a mindset refresh, though he oversaw his fair share of tumultuous moments on the way to Friday’s game. He commended his players for a job well done in the very building he accused them of playing on autopilot 13 months earlier, the lowest point of Pochettino’s tenure after two lifeless defeats to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League. He has since picked out that miserable week as a crucial turning point and on the final day of their 17 training camp building up to the World Cup, the U.S. team’s identity finally clear.Their recent friendlies, a 3-2 win over Senegal and a 2-1 loss to Germany, showcased the intense, attack-minded approach Pochettino has preferred during a coaching career that has spanned nearly two decades. The fact that they were running out of time may have helped but since September, the U.S. have won six of their last 10 games and even in defeat to Germany, the fundamentals Pochettino preached – both tactical and intangible – were quick to spot. His fix was not immediate but from the moment he took the job, Pochettino believed he had enough time. On the eve of their World Cup opener, he is close to proving it.”When we were close to the World Cup, I think we started to evolve and do better and better and better,” he noted. “I think the last two games to think and to feel that it’s possible to do whatever we want, compete in our best and compete against big teams. When the competition is close, I think [it helps] the players to realize we needed to improve our standards and to start to be more serious in the way that we take [playing] for your nationa  CBS Sports Headlines