The co-hosts were knocked out of the tournament after a 4-1 defeat to Belgium in the last 16 in Seattle on Monday (06.07.26) and the coach was disappointed that the furore surrounding FIFA's decision to overturn Folarin Balogun's red card suspension following President Donald Trump's intervention dominated the build-up to the clash.

Asked if the Balogun row had affected his players, Pochettino told BBC Sport: "It didn't affect our performance. It's not an excuse. It wasn't our day.

"But in a personal way, what is the point to insult or receive a lot of bad messages?

"It's a rule for the federation to apply and to try [to overturn the ban]. My position was to train the team. If Balogun is available because FIFA allow for you to have the player, it's not a problem.

"I feel disappointed with too many people. They put politics and manipulation, talk about ethics and integrity [first]. If we talk about the history of this game, I am disappointed in a personal way."

USA defender Tim Ream echoed his manager's words and insisted the team wasn't distracted by the Balogun controversy.

He said: "No, it had no impact. We've done a good job with this group of allowing outside noise to be outside noise. It's got nothing to do with us as players and getting ready for games.

"It's one of those things. That's the world we live in. We were fully focused on us as a group and as a team and fully focused on the game and not really worrying about what was being said or debated in the outside world."

Meanwhile, Pochettino - whose contract is expiring at the end of the World Cup - declined to say if he would continue as USA coach.

The Argentine coach said: "Now is not a moment to talk about that. I think now is a moment to see, to assess the tournament. You know, I'm sure in the next weeks we can start to talk if [US Soccer] wants to talk."