The Argentinian believes the host nation - who he took charge of in September 2024 - can go all the way in the tournament, but even if he had any doubt, he knows it wouldn't have bene a good idea to voice them when asked by the US leader.

He told the Guardian newspaper: "First, because I believe it. And second because when the biggest representative of a country asks … if I was the president and the coach didn’t reply with the vehemence I expect, didn’t say ‘of course’, I’d kick him out.

"If the coach wavers: ‘This isn’t my guy, bring another one.’ "

The former Tottenham Hotspur coach thinks it is important to "believe in the impossible" as both a player and a coach.

He said: “I never had an American dream. I didn’t speak English, didn’t understand anything, hadn’t been in the US: I didn’t go until Seattle in 2014 with Tottenham and one game in Washington in 1999 with Argentina.

"I had an Argentinian dream, then a Spanish dream, an English dream.

"The American dream is the idea anything is possible and we all have dreams: it doesn’t just belong to America.

"But why not? In football you can’t be honest: you need to create dreams, believe in the impossible.

"Because the impossible can be done. In football if you don’t believe: ciao! But if you believe you will have a chance, for sure.”