According to multiple reports, including from The Athletic, Mauricio Pochettino has agreed to become the new USMNT head coach.
Fox Sports say he could be announced as the new USMNT head coach early as Tuesday as final contract details are being sorted out.
All signs point to this being a wildly successful hire for the U.S. Soccer Federation.
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Simply put, Pochettino, 52, is the perfect hire at an absolutely crucial time for the USMNT.
The Argentina coach is the perfect combination of both being a big name but also having the correct philosophy and qualities as a coach to take this young, talented USMNT side to the next level.
But why is he the perfect hire at this point in time?
Famed for nurturing young talent
The former Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham, PSG and Chelsea manager is famed for developing young talent and for a few years the USMNT has had plenty of that. So that is the main reason for hiring him, and U.S. Soccer Technical Director Matt Crocker knows this first hand as he worked with Pochettino at Southampton in 2013.
Over the last 11 years Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Cole Palmer are just a few examples of youngsters driven on by Pochettino’s demanding yet nurturing coaching and man-management style.
And if you look at the two jobs were he really made his name, at Southampton and Tottenham, that was all about Pochettino thriving in nurturing young talent, being a father figure to them and not only making individuals better but developing a team of underdogs into consistent overachievers.
That is the next step the USMNT needs to take too and this current squad feels very similar to Pochettino’s projects before, as they resemble a Southampton who were pushing for the top six or a Tottenham pushing for the top four and then the title. The USMNT have the ability to break into the top 10 and go deep in international tournaments but to take that final step they need to dig deeper than they’ve ever been asked to do before. Pochettino can do take them on that journey. He’s proven he can do it.
The USMNT have Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams, Sergino Dest, Yunus Musah and Gio Reyna all 25-years-old or younger but they need a new chapter and challenge with the national team.
Pochettino will demand they press-high, run themselves into the ground and provide an extremely demanding and harsh environment to work in. That is something Adams recently said this young squad need to take the next step and be among the top 10 teams in the world and the playing style will be exciting to watch and much more in-tune with the physical, destructive nature of previous USMNT’s.
The pressure is off, for now
With the USMNT two years out from the 2026 World Cup on home soil, Pochettino knows he has job security and that will only help his project to rejuvenate a talented yet stumbling U.S. side.
Whatever happens over the next two years it doesn’t really matter. There will be no calls for him to be fired.
Pochettino has two years to get a team ready to compete at the 2026 World Cup and the first time he will really be judged on results is in July 2026. That is both hugely beneficial for him but it also calms things down for this young USMNT side.
Of course, the USMNT want to do well at the 2025 Gold Cup next summer and will want to head into the 2026 World Cup with positive momentum. But in truth, Pochettino has a two-year runway to get his team ready to roll for June 2026.
This benefits both parties
When a manager is hired sometimes it seems like either the coach or the club or national team has won in the deal. Everybody wins in this move.
With top club jobs for a manager of his caliber scarce in Europe (Real Madrid seems like his next logical step) Pochettino gets two years to work on his coaching methods, tweak what he wants to develop and use the time away from day-to-day training in the club game to really focus in on his message and his philosophy.
The fact he has taken his first national team job relatively early in his coaching career is really intriguing as he follows in the footsteps of his mentor Marcelo Bielsa, who was a club coach for many years, then managed Chile and Argentina before then going back to club management and now he’s back in international management with Uruguay.
Many coaches will manage a national team at the end of their career but Pochettino has followed Bielsa’s lead in going to the international game to take his next step and if he makes a success of it he will have plenty of options post-2026 World Cup, be it with the Argentina national team or at the club level.
Make no mistake about it, Pochettino agreeing to become the USMNT head coach is a massive coup for U.S. Soccer. And it works for both parties.