Mauricio Pochettino insisted that there was no coincidence in the United States' comeback against Australia having seen signs of improvement within the group.

Pochettino watched on as goals in either half from Coventry City's Haji Wright cancelled out Jordan Bos' 19th-minute opener to seal a 2-1 win in an international friendly.

Indeed, it was the first time since the former Tottenham boss took the reins of the USMNT back in September 2024 that they had come from behind to win a match. 

Bos opened the scoring after bundling his way past two United States defenders before firing a left-footed finish beyond Matt Freese and into the bottom-right corner. 

However, parity was restored by Wright in the 33rd minute after he collected Cristian Roldan's pass in behind the Australia defence before prodding the ball past Matt Ryan.

And the pair combined once again for the winner six minutes after the restart, with Wright curling a fine effort home after he raced on to Roldan's quick free-kick from the right. 

The USA were made to work for their win, though, slightly edging the expected goals (xG) metric with a total of 0.99 to Australia's 0.75, but Pochettino was thrilled by the mentality shown by his team as they continue their preparations for next year's World Cup. 

"It's no coincidence," Pochettino said about the comeback. "The good and the not-so-good, and it's not a coincidence to have this capacity, to believe, to say 'We need to trust in ourselves that is in our mind, in our brain, our heart, it's in our blood'.

"I think this type of thing is sometimes difficult to explain how that magic happens, but this is about [the] work every day.

"Every time that we work together, we have to put the seed and start to be very consistent in our decisions in the way that we communicate, and in how the message arrives to the team, to the staff, to everyone."

The USMNT have now won eight of their nine matches (88.9%) they have played in Colorado, their highest winning percentage in a state they have played in five or more times. 

Wright, meanwhile, became only the second United States player in over nine years to score multiple goals in a match against a team from outside of CONCACAF, the last being Giovanni Reyna against Ghana in 2023. 

It's been an impressive start to the season for Wright, who leads the scoring charts in the Championship after netting eight goals in nine games for Coventry, who are at the top of the second tier by a point. 

Wright took his starting opportunity with both hands, with Pochettino electing to insert him into his line-up instead of Folarin Balogun, who came on in the 64th minute. 

"I think that is an important thing, to say 'I am here, and I want to play. I want to be part of the team,'" Pochettino added. 

"I think it's for sure, a player that can perform like today, Haji, can be close to being involved [in the World Cup]."

"The last few seasons of my career I've been battling little niggling injuries, and it's been hard to play pain-free," Wright added.

"This is the first season in a few years now where I'm playing completely pain-free. So it feels good to be able to...show what I can do."

The only blemish on an impressive day for Pochettino's side was an injury to captain Christian Pulisic, who was replaced in the 31st minute by Diego Luna. 

Pulisic had already ridden some heavy challenges before he was taken out by Jason Geria on the counter-attack, with the AC Milan midfielder unable to continue. 

"[Pulisic] feels something in his hamstring," Pochettino said. "Tomorrow he will fly to Italy. Tonight we will reassess. We cannot say [anything else]."