'I can grow a lot under Mauricio Pochettino' - USMNT's Benjamin Cremaschi excited to keep building on lessons from Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez at Inter Miami

USMNT's Benjamin Cremaschi is one of 24 players called in by Mauricio Pochettino for the annual U.S. men's national team January camp, which primarily focuses on young, domestic players. The 19-year-old midfielder was a member of the U.S. Olympic squad last year and, beginning with this camp, is hoping to take a big leap forward in 2025 with both the USMNT and his club, Inter Miami.

The teenage midfielder was born and raised in Florida, but is the son of Argentine parents and has spent time with Argentina's U20 team. Pochettino, of course, is a former Argentina international, having represented his country at both the 1999 Copa America and the 2002 World Cup.

In these first few days working together, Cremaschi is already enjoying the USMNT experience under the new coach, and he believes that he has plenty he can learn from Pochettino, both short and long-term.

"He's been great," Cremaschi said of Pochettino. "We've had a couple of talks about everything, and I think he could be really important role in what type of player I could be this year. Obviously, there's a lot more that I could learn from him, and I'm just hoping that, in these next couple of days, I can absorb everything that he teaches and I could grow. I could grow a lot under Mauricio Pochettino."

When asked to discuss the links between the USMNT culture and Argentine culture, Cremaschi said Pochettino is bridging that gap. He, too, has experienced both countries, but says that it's vital for Pochettino to help establish an American culture, not for the team to try and emulate Argentina to the letter.

"I think [the USMNT and Argentina] both bring a different type of culture, different type of energy and it's nice to see that they bring this to this team," he said. "It's also nice to see Mauricio and his staff work with their culture and with their philosophy, let's say, and bring it here. This team could really grow from that, learn from that. They obviously have their own culture, and I think having our own culture is more important than adapting another culture, but I'm very happy that they're here, that we can learn from them.

"I think it's very similar, but I think we need to have our own culture, learn from other teams and just grow as a team."

Pochettino isn't Cremaschi's only mentor. In fact, few have it better in the world right now.

On the club level, Cremaschi has the opportunity to learn from Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, while another Argentine, Javier Mascherano, has just taken over as the Inter Miami coach. There's a wealth of knowledge there for Cremaschi no matter where he is and, now a year-and-a-half since Messi's arrival, that isn't lost on him.

"Obviously being around these guys, you learn a lot," he said. "You learn how they take care of their body, how they work in training. I think every single player in the club at Inter Miami tries to absorb everything they do, everything they show and I think it's important to have people like that, to have people that played at that level.

"Obviously they're amazing people. They try to help out with everything they can do. I'm super happy to have them there and obviously I try to translate what they show and what they do into my game."

The U.S. will continue on with the January camp, which will include a friendly against Venezuela on Jan. 18 at Cremaschi's club home stadium, Chase Stadium, and a friendly against Costa Rica on Jan. 22 in Orlando.