US soccer coach Mauricio Pochettino said the USMNT coaching staff gets together the night before games and plays country music, naming Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson and Ella Langley as part of the mix. The setup comes as the USMNT were in Los Angeles preparing for Turkey in Inglewood and trying to finish top of Group D.
Mauricio Pochettino’s playlist
“I like country music. The night before games, the coaching staff gets together and we play country music. Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Ella Langley...” Pochettino said in a new interview. He did not present it as a one-off nod to the genre. It sounded like part of the team’s regular rhythm before matches, right alongside the work that goes into a World Cup cycle.
He also opened the door to more than just the current playlist. “We do [need everyone to play a part]. We need them to come. They are very, very welcome here. Very welcome. We are here in Los Angeles, and they are welcome...Please, we need everyone's energy,” he said when asked about country artists coming to USMNT matches.
USMNT in Group D
The timing matters because the USMNT were set to face Turkey on Thursday, June 25th, with the group picture still in play. Pochettino’s side had already posted two victories against Australia and Paraguay, and the match in Inglewood carried the chance to tighten their grip on Group D.
That leaves a simple next step for the team: keep the routine, keep the points coming, and keep the volume up around a pregame habit that now has a public face. John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” has also been described as the USMNT’s unofficial World Cup anthem, so the music around this group already has a clear place in its identity.
Country music and World Cup
For readers, the immediate takeaway is not just that Pochettino likes country music. It is that the USMNT coaching staff is using a specific pregame routine before World Cup matches, and now the names tied to it are out in the open. Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson and Ella Langley are part of that soundtrack, while Pochettino says he wants more energy around the team in Los Angeles. The only question left from the playlist is which songs actually make the cut before kickoff.
