According to ESPN’s Mark Ogden and The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Mauricio Pochettino is set to become the new head coach of the United States Men’s National Team replacing the ousted Gregg Berhalter.
The 52-year-old Pochettino becomes the highest-profile USMNT hire since the team tabbed Jurgen Klinsmann in 2011 having most recently managed Premier League side Chelsea for one season before the two sides mutually agreed to part ways after a sixth-place finish for the Blues in 2023-24. Pochettino also guided Tottenham Hotspur to the 2019 Champions League final and won Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain in 2021-22.
Can Pochettino save the USMNT?
After a shambolic end to the Berhalter era all things considered, Pochettino will still take over a USMNT with elevated hopes and plenty of pressure heading into the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Obviously, the question still remains whether he can take the U.S. squad to that next level on home turf.
Despite Berhalter’s shortcomings as a coach, the team did enjoy a renewed success over rival Mexico but fell flat when going up against a much better confederation during this past summer’s Copa America. Needless to say, it was a cruel reality that the United States and CONCACAF as a whole just aren’t ready to compete on the larger global stage and simply cannot be embarrassed in front of the world on American soil in two years.
On the surface, you’d think that two years is surely enough time to get this USMNT in order and ready to take that next step in 2026. I mean, Pochettino has some cache heading into the job as not just a talent manager, but perhaps a talent refiner which is exactly one of the things this squad needs. You simply cannot look at the work he did in Tottenham with Kane and Son and dismiss the idea that his refinement helped elevate both players’ games. The same could possibly be said for Cole Palmer in Chelsea — and if player development and refinement is all USMNT fans and supporters have to worry about then you could say with a straight face that Pochettino is going to be successful in his role with the U.S. team.
However, the problems with the USMNT and in many ways, the USWNT go deeper than the head coaches and the immediate squads assembled. The closed U.S. pyramid and corporate stranglehold on the game in the United States have suffocated any real development with players and in many ways stymied the true growth of the game within communities across the country. Sure the aspect of promotion and relegation is a big part of the argument here juxtaposed to other parts of the world that have much stronger systems, however, U.S. soccers’ propensity to cater to the likes of MLS and try to compete with much bigger and more established professional leagues in the United States isn’t helping the game, it’s hindering it and unfortunately for the fans that’s something that Pochettino like Berhalter won’t be able to fix.