U.S. Soccer’s reported interest in Mauricio Pochettino has grown significantly.
Pochettino has become a top target for the open U.S. men’s national team head coaching position, The Athletic and Fox Sports reported Thursday. Pochettino was also linked as an option for the England national team’s managerial opening, but talks have quieted since original interest in July, according to reports.
He was previously linked with the USMNT by Ole in July.
The 52-year-old Pochettino left English Premier League side Chelsea by mutual consent last May. Pochettino did help the Blues qualify for Europe thanks to a strong end-of-season run despite enduring some tough moments throughout the campaign.
A long-time international player, Pochettino is well known for his time as Tottenham manager from May 2014-November 2019. He led Spurs to a UEFA Champions League Final before eventually moving to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
All three of his trophies won as a manager came at PSG before joining Chelsea ahead of the 2023-24 Premier League campaign. Pochettino has also served as manager of Spanish club Espanyol and English side Southampton.
U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker and Pochettino did overlap at Southampton while Crocker led the club’s academy. Pochettino led the Saints to an eighth place league finish in 2013.
The USMNT have also been linked with several coaches this summer including LAFC’s Steve Cherundolo and Columbus Crew’s Wilfried Nancy. However, a hiring of Pochettino would be the biggest splash in USMNT history to date.
U.S. Soccer parted ways with Gregg Berhalter earlier this month after the USMNT exited the 2024 Copa America tournament in the group stage.
The USMNT remain off from international action until facing Canada and New Zealand in September friendlies on home soil. Should the USMNT remain without a head coach for those matches, assistant coach Mikey Varas is expected to take charge on an interim basis, per The Athletic.
Hasn’t Pochettino already said he would be interested in the England job? So if he were choosing between England and the US …
With a couple of different teams, he’s had players walk over hot coals as a training exercise. That seemed … as irrational as keeping lemons to ward off “auras.”
If he can tap into a universal spiritual energy, who knows, maybe it could help. If such a thing exists, it must be in the connections between people, and every team needs to feel it can be more than the sum of its parts.
I just had the sense that the USMNT already had the togetherness, the commitment, etc. — they just need some help putting together the soccer.
He was an international player himself so he should have some idea of the pace needed in NT football training. Although most of his time was under Bielsa so maybe not.
If he emulates Bielsa, wouldn’t that _also_ suggest an unremittingly fast pace? Not sure I see a contrast.
If I recall correctly, the articles about the hot coals (and also something about players pressing their neck against an arrow point) suggested that it wasn’t so much about literally picking up feet fast as about building mental toughness in a more abstract sense: conquering instinctive fear, expanding the range of what players believe they can do. Perhaps also developing a kind of blind faith in the coach as a charismatic leader, which was what mainly gave me pause.
But maybe you’re right to note that it could reinforce foot speed or lightness or something as well.
“I just had the sense that the USMNT already had the togetherness, the commitment, etc. — they just need some help putting together the soccer.”
They need more than a little help. A lot more.
And having a locker room full of your buddies isn’t exactly the kind of “togetherness” pro teams need.
Commitment? A lot of our guys were not starters at their clubs. But they ( CP for example) could always count on PT from Gregg. Why wouldn’t they love and be “committed” to the USMNT?
re pocchetino, can someone explain how what he does compares to what berhalter or marsch do? is he another build from the back, press high, posssession guy? who different would you have press high, and who would possess, or in the spirit of the “no fat mckennie” comment below, is the idea we’d have the same roster run harder?
High press yes, play out yes, overall more direct than Berhalter but not as direct as Marsch. Overall, compared to those two just more adept at adapting to his opponents. He’s used multiple formations 3-4-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 to be able match up to their opponents. I think what maybe excites people more is his rep for having high standards for effort and willingness to use young players.
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Paul Tenario who was the first I saw to break the story basically said that Poch is a favorite of some higher ups within USSF but it’s neither side has committed yet and there are other European experienced managers in the running “at a similar level”. So just like the Matarazzo rumors take it all with a grain of salt. To me has more legs that it came from US Soccer press and combined with Adams “we need a manager who is ruthless”
the varas contingency is unacceptable. first, berhalter was fired nearly a month ago, and that was a glacial 9 days after he stumbled out of the copa. if you can’t hire and get active a coach in 2 months this is amateur hour. how hard is it to pick someone actually interested and keep offering their mr. 10% numbers until they agree.
second, the implication we need continuity with caretakers is laughably dumb. berhalter was fired in part for dumb tactics. so we use assistant to caretake? a smart team would have someone else different in so they could try different looks and players. last thing we need is burn another window calling the same people to play the same way that just didn’t work in june.
third, varas’ resume is unacceptable for the job. he coached one of the sloppiest, worst U20 teams in recent memory, the gang who couldn’t shoot straight of ’23, and that is his only head experience. he has never head coached an adult pro team.
there needs to be a qualifications floor for the job, even for a week window, and this guy would be below it. i don’t want the mexican coaching carousel but you don’t get their job, even as an interim, without a lengthy resume. to me if you even think of doing this you get bob bradley or klinsmann on the phone and appeal to their patriotism to run a camp one time. act like it’s a serious job for a change.
Varas is under contract, if they don’t have a manager by September, he is literally the next in line with Bj leaving for Nashville. That’s how caretaker managers work. It’s not about continuity it’s about no one is taking a job for two weeks.
You are missing an important point. Berhalter was not fired for dumb tactics. He was fired for poor results. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but Guardiola employs completely different tactics with Man City than he did with Barcelona or than he did with Bayern. Tactics aren’t that important. Results are really all that count. Ideally you want to use tactics that best fit your personnel. But it doesn’t matter as much if you win.
Gary,
In the Pirate movies they talk about Pirate “rules” being more like Pirate “guidelines”.
That’s what tactics are for national teams. Guidelines not as strict as rules.
The good manager evaluates his player pool , looks at how they have been playing and decides on whether to stick with that or to maybe tweak it or dump it all and start fresh.
Because we don’t know who the new person will be, we can’t be sure who their regular 26 man roster is going to be. So we can’t be sure which tactics best apply.
Gregg was a tactics freak it seems, to a fault. I remember Lletget saying how blown away Seba was by Gregg’s powerpoint presentations. He could talk the talk but could not walk the walk it seems.
I got the impression Gregg was so impressed with his own tactics that he felt as long as a player used Coach Berhalter’s tactics, they would succeed because , well, they were Gregg’s tactics. He was in love with his tactical “nous”.
To me a good international manager needs so much more than just a good grounding in tactics. I don’t care what tactics Pochettino used in Paris, with Spurs or Chelsea.
Because the quality of USMNT player pool is not on par with the quality on those club rosters.
It would be interesting to follow him around for his first few months if he got the job because the quality of the players he would be dealing with is so much lower that what he has been used to.
Gary,
Au contraire mon frere…tactics do matter…and they matter a lot.
The tactics employed, as well as how effectively they are employed, is a huge variable in the success of a team.
Gb’s tactics is ‘go wide and cross’, never mind the CF is only 5’10
LZ let’s be honest that strategy didn’t work when the striker was 6’3 (Pefok), 6’2 (Zardes) or 6’1 (Pepi and Sargent) either. Or 5’8 (Ferreira)
Papi G..
“Au contraire mon frere…tactics do matter…and they matter a lot”
Gary never said they don’t matter. Gary said, in so many words, that tactics only matter if they work and get you the desired result.
If Gregg had beaten the Netherlands in Qatar, or Panama and Uruguay in the Copa, the USSF could not have cared less what tactics he used. Results really matter with international football for one simple reason, you get to play more games if you advance.
There is no such thing as dumb or bad tactics.
There are tactics that work for your players.
There are tactics that don’t work for your players.
Gregg got fired because he couldn’t figure out the difference.
It always comes down to who your players are and whether the manager can figure that out in time.
Vacqui,
Gary said, “tactics are not important” I chose the word, “matter” to replace, “important.” Tomato…tomato. No matter how you say, “tomato,” tactics are important and matter.
Respective to Berhalter and the WC game vs Netherlands…fact of the matter is, Berhalter did NOT beat the Netherlands, and the L was rooted in his choice of tactics. So YOUR example is a clear example of why tactics are important and matter.
I agree that knowing your players and applying the right tactics is an important variable in the equation, but after 5 years of the SAME player pool, and using the same tactics, which have proven ineffective against quality competition, as well as not having the acumen to make impactful in-game changes to said tactics, there is such a thing as dumb tactics…especially if those tactics are repeated over and over and over again.
Papi Grande,
Gregg was known for giving one hell of a Power point on tactics. I’m pretty sure he was far better versed on tactics that most anyone on SBI.
I’ve never questioned his football knowledge.
But Gregg seemed to fall in love with his tactical schemes and it felt like he thought any player should be able to make his schemes work because, well, because Gregg came up with them.
I disagree with you.
There are no dumb schemes or dumb tactics. There are only dumb coaches who persist in using those schemes or tactics after it becomes clear that they are not working either because his players are not really suited to the tactics or because the opposition are not vulnerable to the tactic. Or dumb players who can’t comprehend how tactics work, but again it’s the head coach who keeps that dumb player out there.
Tactics don’t exist in a vacuum. They need players to make them real. And if the tactics and the players are a good match, good things happen.
If they are not, then you get the USMNT.
This is bringing back painful memories of my search for a prom date.
Some would say no before I asked; others would wait and relish the burn.
No “FAT McKennie” with Pochettino.