President Trump picked up the phone Thursday night and called the U.S. men's national team with a simple message: go win. The 45-second video of the exchange, posted by the USMNT's official X account, showed the president connecting with head coach Mauricio Pochettino and the full 26-man roster roughly 24 hours before the squad's World Cup 2026 opener against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
It was a brief call, warm, direct, and unmistakably presidential. And it landed at a moment when the team is preparing for what many consider the biggest match in its history.
The call came through Andrew Giuliani, the White House's World Cup czar, who told the president he was "standing in front of 26 champions and a great coach" and that the players were "ready to go and run through a wall." Giuliani then handed the phone to Pochettino, the Argentine-born manager who has guided the USMNT through its preparations as a host nation.
Trump did not hold back.
"I just called to say you're a fantastic guy, a fantastic coach. I know about your record, your success and how great the players are. I think you've got a really good chance of going all the way so I just wish you a lot of luck."
Pochettino, visibly moved by the compliment, responded in kind.
"Thank you so much for your support Mr. President. We are going to do everything to make you proud and all the people here in this country."
Captain Tim Ream was also visible in the video alongside Pochettino. The rest of the squad was in the room but off camera, the New York Post reported.
Trump has been highly visible in connection with the 2026 World Cup, and the phone call fits a pattern of personal engagement that has extended well beyond the sporting event itself. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has become a frequent Oval Office visitor, even showing up in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, while Trump was negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected at Friday night's match, alongside Paraguay's president, Santiago Peña. SoFi Stadium has been temporarily renamed Los Angeles Stadium for the duration of the tournament. Trump himself is not expected to attend the opener in person.
The president's willingness to personally engage with athletes and sporting events is nothing new. He recently reshaped a UFC fight card at the White House with a single question to Dana White, demonstrating the kind of hands-on involvement that has become a hallmark of this administration.
The tradition of presidents reaching out to the men's national team is not new, though the timing and tone have varied. Joe Biden got on FaceTime with then-coach Gregg Berhalter in 2022, encouraging the squad to "shock 'em all." That team advanced out of the group stage but fell short of a deep run.
In 2014, Barack Obama called Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard, but only after the tournament ended, following a Round of 16 loss to Belgium. Obama told them the team "did us proud." The gesture was appreciated, but it came as a consolation call, not a rallying cry.
Bill Clinton, who was out of office at the time, traveled to South Africa in 2010 to support the USMNT in person. He met with Nelson Mandela and reportedly took a liking to the vuvuzelas that defined that tournament's atmosphere.
What sets Trump's call apart is the timing: before the whistle, not after the final result. It was a message of confidence, not condolence. And it came from a sitting president to a team playing on home soil in a tournament the United States is co-hosting.
That distinction matters. Trump has shown a consistent instinct for inserting himself into moments of national pride before they unfold, not after, and this call was no exception. His administration has also moved decisively on other fronts in recent days, from clearing out intelligence officials to forging unexpected policy alliances.
Friday night's match against Paraguay carries weight that goes beyond the group stage. The United States is a host nation, and the expectations on this team are enormous. Pochettino, who built his reputation managing Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain in European football, was brought in specifically to raise the program's ceiling.
The USMNT has not won a World Cup. It has not reached the semifinals. The best modern result was a quarterfinal appearance in 2002. For a country that pours billions into professional sports infrastructure, the gap between investment and international soccer results has been glaring.
Trump's call acknowledged that gap, and bet on this group to close it. His praise of Pochettino's record was specific, not generic. And his prediction that the team has "a really good chance of going all the way" was the kind of bold, unhedged statement that most politicians avoid before a ball is kicked.
The president has also been active on other unexpected fronts, including joining forces with Mark Cuban on prescription drug pricing, another move that defied conventional expectations.
Andrew Giuliani's presence in the video underscored the administration's organizational commitment to the tournament. As executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, Giuliani has served as the connective tissue between the federal government and the event's logistics. His role Thursday night was straightforward: get the president on the line with the team.
That he described the players as "26 champions" before the tournament had even started tells you something about the tone the White House is setting. This is not cautious bureaucratic support. It is full-throated backing.
The administration's approach to the World Cup stands in contrast to its combative posture on other issues. Trump has clashed publicly with media networks and pursued aggressive legal battles on multiple fronts. But when it comes to the national team, the message has been simple and unified: we're behind you.
The USMNT will take the field at Los Angeles Stadium with the weight of a host nation on its shoulders, a coach who has managed at the highest levels of European club football, and a presidential endorsement ringing in its ears.
Whether the call makes any difference on the pitch is unknowable. Soccer is not won by phone calls. But the gesture, direct, personal, timed for maximum impact, is the kind of leadership moment that resonates beyond the sport.
Presidents who show up before the fight, not after, tend to be the ones people remember.