Mauricio Pochettino conceded he and his team underestimated the scale of the challenge when it came to overseeing the United States' turnaround.
The USA have been impressive at the World Cup, with the co-hosts sure of their place at the top of Group D heading into their matchday three meeting with already-eliminated Turkiye.
Pochettino took charge of the USA in September 2024, on the back of the Stars and Stripes failing to make it out of their group at the Copa America under Gregg Berhalter.
The Argentine had an indifferent start to his tenure, but his record now stands at 12 games, with seven wins, four defeats and one draw.
And Pochettino acknowledged the task has been tougher than he thought it would be.
"We were naive when we signed the contract. We underestimated the situation. What we found was worse than we expected," said Pochettino.
"We thought people would be desperate to help, that everyone would be involved, eager to play for the national team. It was the complete opposite.
"We received a huge dose of reality. We said, 'What the hell...?'"
The USA’s six goals scored so far is already their third-highest total at a single edition of the World Cup, after their seven in both 1930 and 2002.
Five of their six goals so far at this tournament have come in the first half of games.
In fact, the USA have won consecutive World Cup matches for the first time since their first two games in the competition in 1930. They have never before won three in a row.
The Opta supercomputer ranks the USA as the 10th favourites to win the trophy, at 3.9%.
They seem set to face Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32, with the supercomputer ranking their chances of reaching the last 16 at 71.7%.
"Why not us?" quipped Pochettino when asked about the USA's chances of going all the way.
The former Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham boss is out of contract after the World Cup, and had been linked with AC Milan before they appointed Ruben Amorim.
"If we want to stay, we have months to talk, or days or weeks, because there are four years until the next World Cup," Pochettino said.
"It is not the time to be distracted and all the energy should be focused on the tournament and on being with the players."