Mauricio Pochettino appointed as US Men’s National Team head coach

Now official  

Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed as the new US men’s national team head coach. US Soccer announced the appointment of the Argentine on Tuesday evening. Pochettino replaces Gregg Berhalter, who was fired from his role by the US Soccer Federation (USSF) after the host nation’s dismal performance at this summer’s Copa America in the United States. Pochettino is now charged to guide the USMNT to the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

Following the dismissal, the USSF, under the leadership of sporting director Matt Crocker, approached several high-caliber targets. Pochettino, in fact, wasn’t the top choice by the USSF. Instead, the football federation initially approached former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp. Klopp, however, quickly shut down the rumors, citing his desire to take a significant break from football. 

With Klopp out of the picture, Crocker zeroed in on Pochettino. The two have history. Crocker led Southampton’s academy while Pochettino was in charge of the club. Indeed, Southampton launched what has been an impressive career by the 52-year-old Argentine manager. From 2014 to 2019, Pochettino oversaw Tottenham, where he averaged 1.84 points per game in 293 games across all competitions.  Although he had a consistent record at Tottenham, ultimately, Pochettino failed to win any significant titles with the club. But the Argentine came close twice. In 2015/16, Tottenham led the Premier League but would ultimately drop to third place as Leicester went on a miracle title run. Then in 2019, Tottenham reached the Champions League final but lost 2-0 to league rivals Liverpool.

The missed titles seem to somewhat define Pochettino’s career. Indeed, the Argentine would finally win a trophy after joining PSG in 2021. He was in charge for two seasons of the Ligue 1 giant, winning the title in 2021/22 but failing to bring home a European trophy. Following his time with PSG, he joined Chelsea, but despite the improvement in results during the second half of the 2023/24 season, Todd Boehly ultimately allowed Pochettino to leave on mutual consent. 

What, then, can US fans expect from Pochettino? “Pochettino’s reputation in the Premier League was probably actually slightly enhanced by the job he did at Chelsea last season, given the conditions he had to work in,” UK content manager Ben Littlemore said. “After another shaky first half of the campaign for the Blues, he steadied the ship, guided the club back into Europe, while developing young stars like Cole Palmer, and managed to keep a very bloated squad reasonably happy. It was a great surprise when it was announced he would leave the club. 

“Back in his Tottenham days, Pochettino did a superb job to turn a club who had been serially routed to the fringes of qualifying for Europe in the Premier League to a club that announced themselves on the European stage,” Littlemore added. “For taking Spurs to the Champions League final and their infamous semi-final comeback against Ajax, he probably would never have had to buy a drink around Tottenham Court Road again, perhaps until he joined Chelsea. The Argentine’s greatest strengths are his man-management skills and ability to galvanize a young group of players. Whilst I don’t think he is an elite tactician at the levels of Guardiola, Klopp, or Arteta, he is still very tactically astute.”