REUTERS/Albert Gea
Mauricio Pochettino felt he had to "fix" aspects of the USMNT's culture
If USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino walks away from the job after this World Cup, his career with the team will be complicated. Despite the hype surrounding this generation of players and playing the tournament on home soil, his United States team lost in the Round of 16, which, based on the last 30 or so years of World Cup play, is about the ceiling for the program.
What makes Mauricio Pochettino different than any other manager the United States men’s national team has ever had is that he came to the program with a reputation as one of the best club coaches in the game. The most notable success of former German manager Jurgen Klinsmann, for example, came with Germany in 2006, when he led them to the semi-finals of the World Cup and ultimately finished in third place.
USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino felt he had to fix a culture of star players having too much power in the team
Given Pochettino’s respect within the global soccer community — or, as the kids would say, “aura” — he had the status to challenge the USMNT’s star players in a way they’d never been on the national team level, with a recent report from The Athletic specifically naming Christian Pulisic as a player who “had too much power.”
The report specifically cites Pulisic’s much-maligned decision to skip last summer’s Gold Cup to rest ahead of the upcoming season as a situation that Pochettino felt was “symptomatic of dynamics that had to be fixed.”
“Pochettino went along with that plan publicly, but it was symptomatic of dynamics that had to be fixed. He encountered players who had too much power, who dictated time off, and who sometimes used it for golf outings or meals with friends. Some of the friction spilled into public view when Pulisic and Pochettino gave dueling accounts of Pulisic’s decision to skip the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup.”
“Pochettino felt he had to strip away that power. The teardown was, at times, tumultuous. A March 2025 window, which culminated with losses to Panama and Canada, ‘was painful,’ he’d later say. ‘But it was necessary … for the players to realize that (doing things) this way, it is impossible to arrive in a good condition for the World Cup.’” [via The Athletic]
Given the type of performance the USMNT showed in its opening match against Paragauy — in which the team perhaps put forth its best “pure soccer” performance in its World Cup history — both casual and hardcore American fans are hoping that the former Tottenham, PSG and Chelsea stays in charge of the national team.
“In the next weeks, we can start to talk if the federation wants to talk,” Pochettino said after the loss to Belgium. “Right now, it’s about resting a little bit, to think, have conversations with the federation to see what the decision is. I’m so happy. We’ve built a very good relationship, now is not a moment to talk about my future.”
Prior to the start of the World Cup, however, it was reported that Pochettino’s team had discussions with iconic Italian club AC Milan about their managerial vacancy.