Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t officially been announced as U.S. men’s national team head coach yet but he already has the backing of one of the program’s star players.
Antonee Robinson praised Pochettino in his postmatch interview Friday night with NBC Sports, shortly after Fulham’s 1-0 Premier League loss to Manchester United. The Fulham left back logged his first 90 minutes of the new league campaign as he remains one of the key members in Marco Silva’s squad.
Robinson, who played against Pochettino’s Chelsea last season on two occasions, has continued to be a consistent starter for the USMNT over recent years and should be during the Argentine’s reign as head coach.
Although a new Premier League campaign is underway for Robinson to focus on, he already has one eye on the USMNT’s future under a talented manager like Pochettino.
“He’s a very good manager, so I’ll be interested to see obviously how he comes in,” Robinson said in a postmatch interview. “How he gets used to the boys. How we get used to him. It’s a fresh start now.
“Obviously eyes are going to be on the World Cup and he’s got two years to get the best out of us that we can and we got to give it everything for him, so that he can be successful with us,” Robinson added.
Robinson’s first chance to feature for the USMNT since this summer’s Copa America disappointment will come in September when the Americans face Canada and New Zealand in home friendlies.