USMNT-Canada: What to watch for as rivals meet in Minnesota

Pochettino, for his part, hasn't taken Marsch's bait. 

"I know Jesse very well. I respect him and like him as a coach," he said in a pre-match news conference. "It's always difficult to play against teams he coaches." 

But Pochettino did sneak in a quick, if unintentional, dig at his opposite number to close out his media duties. 

"I celebrate that we have coaches like Jesse that it's pure emotion, no? I like this. In some moments, I was similar. Now I am more mature."

Attacking instinct on both sides

Pochettino and Marsch are very different coaches, but they both share a love of intense, aggressive, athletic play — and that should make this match anything but the "friendly" it's being billed as.

"They're a team that's very high-energy, very high-pressing, and very athletic, almost just like us, which usually doesn't happen a lot," said USMNT midfielder Sebastian Berhalter. "It's going to be a fun game."

The USMNT and Canada both played Peru and Chile earlier in this window, so comparisons between the two are simple. Canada has been the more prolific attacking team of the two in this window, racking up 39 cumulative shots against those opponents to the USMNT's 21, but the USMNT has been far more clinical. It scored eight goals to Canada's three.

An open goalkeeping question

There are four goalkeepers present and correct within this USMNT camp: NYCFC's Matt Freese (who served as the first-choice keeper at the World Cup), Lyngby's Diego Kochen, Chicago's Chris Brady and Nashville's Brian Schwake. Pochettino kicked off the camp by giving each of the four players one half each to test their mettle.

When the all-important third game against Mexico rolled around, Pochettino opted for Kochen — a former Barcelona prospect with a high ceiling — over the other three, seemingly drawing a curtain on Freese's era as the team's starter. It will be fascinating to see if Pochettino throws his weight behind Kochen and starts him in this match ... or if he rotates his keepers once again to keep Canada and the U.S. soccer fandom guessing.

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.