IRVINE, Calif. — Mauricio Pochettino spent most of his first 18 months as the U.S. men’s national team’s manager trying, begging and imploring anyone who would listen to treat every game as if it was the World Cup. 

He insisted there was no first or second team. He was offended — still is, if we’re being honest — that not everyone was interested in last summer’s Gold Cup. He talked about how in Spain and France and Argentina and Brazil, getting called up to the national team under any circumstance is something players would crawl over broken glass to do, and how he wanted that to be the case here. 

All of that was important, necessary and, presumably, part of the reason U.S. Soccer reportedly offered Pochettino a contract extension through the 2030 World Cup, as per The Athletic’s Adam Crafton on Friday morning. 

So it was sort of strange on Thursday night to see Pochettino take offense at questions that assumed his team’s 3-2 loss to Turkey, in which they conceded a winner on the game’s final kick, might matter or affect momentum in some way. In a sense, all those questions did was take him at his word. 

“I am happy. Maybe I am not showing because your questions are a little bit weird,” Pochettino said. “When I arrive here, I am confused. Maybe the mood or the vibe is like we go home tonight and Turkey stays, no?” 

In fairness to Pochettino, he’s obviously right that the game itself was only a dead rubber. His decision to heavily rotate was an easy one, almost certainly correct, and he’s done a terrific job managing this team through the group stage. 

No one’s denying him any of that. Every media outlet in the country spent the last week giving him and his team the most congratulatory possible coverage. No one’s opinion of this team or its chances of beating Bosnia and Herzegovina should be seriously affected by Thursday night’s performance. 

But that’s different from acting as though the game simply didn’t happen. The U.S. did have its defensive depth exposed, Auston Trusty did roll his ankle in the lead-up to the winner and players like Tim Weah, Brenden Aaronson and Ricardo Pepi — all of whom could have roles to play off the bench in the knockouts — all struggled to impact the game. 

That does matter, and so too do the positives from the night, namely Christian Pulisic looking dynamic in his return from injury and Sebastian Berhalter notching a goal and assist while every set piece he took looked dangerous. 

And, just as a matter of principle, Pochettino can’t have his cake and eat it too. 

If you want every game to be treated seriously, if you start calling friendly matches unofficial games and make it a bedrock part of your culture to try and vanquish the idea that there are such things as meaningless games, you can’t turn around after a loss and say that the game was meaningless. 

At best, it’s bizarre. At worst, it undermines his message. Surely no one in France, Brazil, Argentina or Spain would handwave a loss at the World Cup under the same circumstances. 

That, by the way, doesn’t mean Pochettino couldn’t have acknowledged the situation, or that it wasn’t worth risking injuries and second yellow cards to his starters. Players handled similar questions the way you would expect, with perspective and attempts at optimism. 

“I wouldn’t say we lost momentum,” Chris Richards said., “Everything’s a learning opportunity. Regardless if you win or lose, kind of the same mentality when you go into it. We’re back to work.” 

Pochettino, in contrast, couldn’t get over his incredulity that anyone would assign even the most mildly negative implications to losing a game. 

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“Sorry guys, it cannot be possible that Turkey finished their third point and Australia celebrates their qualification, Paraguay celebrates their qualification and [I] come here and for you [media] not to say congratulations that we won the group,” Pochettino said before abruptly exiting the dais. “That is a little bit sad. But only that I need you and everyone to remember that we won the group. Sorry guys. We won.” 

The final score was Turkey 3, USA 2. It’s OK to acknowledge that.